Suarez a supreme striking talent
The reason strikers are the most expensive players is because they have the hardest but also the most important job in football — putting the ball in the net.
Luis Suarez certainly has that ability – his goal return against Norwich alone is staggering — but there is so much more to his game. Even when he doesn’t score, he still contributes hugely to this Liverpool side.
Suarez’s love for playing the game is clear to see every time he walks across that white line. And his directness in the way he plays is a defender’s worst nightmare.
Against Norwich, he was virtually unplayable. Certainly, I can’t remember any other player scoring a hat-trick of that quality, never mind four.
The awareness he showed for the first – that audacious 40-yarder — was typical of the way he plays, always knowing what’s going on around him and taking up positions to maximise the opportunities he gets or constructs.
Suarez has had well-documented issues on and off the field but nobody can question his ability and desire when he plays. Liverpool did very well to hold onto him in the summer but I would imagine if they don’t achieve Champions League football next season then he may well end up leaving Anfield. And who can really blame a player of his ability for wanting to test himself at the highest level? When Suarez returned from his ban earlier this season, I was impressed with Brendan Rodgers’ recognition that he needed to have both Suarez and Daniel Sturridge in the starting 11, especially given the way Sturridge had started the season in Suarez’s absence.
This is a manager who has always favoured a 4-3-3 system but he was prepared to adapt to get the best out of two of his star players by switching to a 3-5-2 formation.
For weeks now there has been a raging debate about which is the best strike force in the Premier League. Is it Suarez and Sturridge? Rooney and Van Persie? Aguero and Negredo?
In the modern game we so often see teams line up with just one front man, so it’s been refreshing to see these top sides construct systems to ensure that both their star strikers are accommodated in the starting 11.
There are certain strikers who can only play in one way – as a traditional number nine who leads the line, say — but most of the aforementioned players are more than capable of adapting to different roles.
Take Rooney. Two seasons ago, when he predominantly led the line for Man United, he scored 38 goals from 49 games, a remarkable record by anyone’s standards. Following Robin Van Persie’s arrival from Arsenal, Rooney was then employed as a deep-lying striker and, while he still managed 23 goals from 44 appearances, he also contributed to the team in other areas, whether in assists or by doing defensive work to help out the midfield. For me, Rooney doesn’t always get the recognition he deserves and so I’m delighted to see him now playing as well as he ever has for United, after an uncertain time with that bust-up with Fergie and a rumoured transfer to Chelsea.
When I was growing up, the preferred formation in football was 4-4-2, whether I was watching Match of the Day or playing for Stella Maris at Richmond Road. The way I was educated to play football always involved playing with two front men so, as a midfielder, when I got on the ball, invariably one of them would try and give me an option by coming short while the other would look to stretch the opposition by going long or over the top.
This has evolved over the years, and teams have been so wary of getting overrun in midfield that they have often opted for an additional attacking midfielder to stifle the opposing team’s holding midfielder.
As an apprentice and young pro at Wolves I came across a lot of strikers who would be quick to tell you exactly where they wanted the ball played. It was a tough learning school, in the company of players like Steve Bull, Don Goodman, Ade Akinbiyi, Nathan Blake, Kenny Miller and Dean Sturridge to name just a few. It was back then too that I realised that fans and media alike more often than not only give strikers credit when they score.
Akinbiyi, for example, had a really good spell at Wolves before he moved to Leicester City and the main attribute he brought to the team was hard work and determination.
Of course, strikers by nature have to be somewhat selfish, with the result that some simply aren’t interested in doing the ugly side of the job or even getting involved in build-up play. But if they put the ball in the onion bag on a regular basis then who can argue? And when it’s done with the devastating style deployed by Suarez on Wednesday night, it’s a reminder of how fortunate we are to be a able to see such a striking talent going about his business game after game.
