Rodgers: Luis will accept reality
And once the formal words of welcome were over, it didn’t take long for the large great beast — in its latest guise as one Luis Suarez — to be dragged front and centre.
It would be understandable if, by this stage, Brendan Rodgers reacted to questions about his wantaway player with reluctance if not weariness or even outright anger. But to his credit, the manager’s demeanour offered substance to his very first response to being asked if he felt he was fighting a losing battle to keep the Uruguayan at Anfield.
“No, not really,” he said. “We’re quite calm about it. The club’s in control of the situation. He has three years left on his contract and he’s a player we don’t want to sell. He’s a player who is highly valued throughout the world and someone we made a conscious decision last season to build a team around. We’ve got no inclination to sell. We’ve been very strong on that point and will continue to be — and especially not to a team that’s a rival for us. So, no, we don’t feel we’re fighting a losing battle. He’s very much a contracted player for Liverpool and I’m pretty confident he’ll remain that.
“Since I’ve known him, he’s fought for his life for Liverpool and there comes a time where he’ll recognise that the club are not going to sell and, once that time comes and he gets his head around that, the minute he goes on to the training field and on to the pitch he’ll give nothing less than 100%.
“That’s why it’s difficult at this moment because that’s not the point that he’s at — that commitment I’ve seen every day and that the Liverpool supporters have seen, it’s not quite there yet, but I’ve every confidence that if he stays beyond the window, once he’s fit and available and once he plays, he’ll be giving everything.”
Indicating that Suarez — who has not travelled to Dublin — has expressed regret about the situation, Rodgers went on: “Obviously he’s training on his own at the moment and he understands totally where we’re coming from. It’s been a difficult period for him but my job is to protect the group and the football club as well. But once he’s back in line, with his spirit and commitment then he’ll rejoin the group. It’s been a difficult few days for him but he knows where we stand as a club and we’ll see what the future brings.”
Indeed, perhaps more in hope than expectation, Rodgers maintained that the worst of the Suarez saga was over.
“I believe so,” he said. “I was saying to one or two of the staff that it’s obviously been a difficult period for us as a football club. But we’ve always known what the objective was — we didn’t want to lose one of the top strikers in the world. And that is still what we want to achieve..”
As if the Liverpool manager didn’t already have enough on his plate, Rodgers also had to contend with the breaking news yesterday that his 18-year-old winger Raheem Sterling will go on trial after being charged with common assault. Sterling appeared in court yesterday after being arrested for assaulting his 20-year-old partner Shana Halliday.
“It’s obviously disappointing,” said his manager. “I spoke with him this morning, he’s travelled with the group and that’s something we’ll review later.”
By contrast, Neil Lennon’s concerns at the moment are comparatively trivial since they revolve mainly around trying to find out more about their next Champions League opponents, Shakhter Karagandy of faraway Kazakhstan. Confirming once again that Celtic have expressed an interest in Wolves’ Kevin Doyle — “but that’s as far as it’s gone” — Lennon also said that, while no new contract has been agreed with Anthony Stokes, Celtic are hoping for “a big season” from the Dubliner. “He’s an important player for us,” he added.
The ‘Dublin Decider’ — tickets for which sold out in record time with avid local interest swelled by 12,000 supporters travelling from England and Scotland — kicks off at 5pm today and will create the rare enough spectacle for a football match of a full house at the Aviva Stadium.
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