Suarez ‘should be Player of Year’
Uruguay international Suarez has been in sparkling form for Liverpool this season, with his 22 Premier League goals making him the leading scorer in the top-flight.
Rodgers says Suarez deserves to be honoured in the forthcoming PFA awards and has nothing but respect for the 26-year-old.
Rodgers said: “His league goals alone should put him in with a great shout but you also need to look at his consistency throughout the season that makes him arguably the best player. He will certainly be in the reckoning.
“There are other contenders of course; players like Gareth Bale have been outstanding for Tottenham for example, but I think Luis’ consistency and the impact he has had for us this season means that he would be my candidate to win.
“I know what it was like when I faced him as an opposing manager, I always viewed him as a pest around the penalty area and you know that players like that usually have the quality to score at any given time.
“When you know him as a person and as a man like we do here, you can see why so many people love him. He is also a multi-talented footballer who has shown that he is at a world-class level now.”
Rodgers’ more immediate priority is getting Liverpool into Europe next season.
The Reds are three points behind sixth-placed Merseyside rivals Everton in a bid for a Europa League spot and seven adrift of Chelsea, who occupy the fourth and final Champions League position.
However Liverpool have won four of their last five league games and Rodgers is simply looking to extend that run against West Ham at Anfield tomorrow.
“I am not even thinking about how many points we might need to clinch a Champions League place,” said Rodgers.
“We just need to win the next game. We’ve won five of our last six in all competitions. Hopefully we showed the Southampton performance (a 3-1 defeat) was a blip.
“We came back and showed great determination and will last week, as well as quality, to beat Aston Villa, and we want to continue with that.
“West Ham will be a difficult game for us. They’re a tough team to play against as they’ve some very good players.”
For his part, Sam Allardyce’s focus is on getting the 40-point mark as soon as possible.
“We just need to focus on securing as many points as we can between now and the end of the season,” Allardyce said.
“Certainly with the points total we’ve got (36 points) we know we’re not too far away now.”
