Liverpool can’t afford Suarez to see red now

If Liverpool are to seal the deal on their first title in 24 years then it is vital that Luis Suarez doesn’t end this Premier League campaign as he began it.

One of the many reasons why, before the start of the season, Liverpool were long odds to end up as top of the pile in May was because, first, there were real doubts about the club’s capacity to retain the services of the Uruguayan.

Even when that issue had been resolved, there remained a lot of uncertainty about how the temperamental striker would respond after being consigned to the sidelines for the first five games of the campaign as he saw out the second half of his 10-match ban for that inexplicable bite at Branislav Ivanovic this time last year.

Hilariously, Brendan Rodgers had Suarez "champing at the bit" to return last September but, eight months on, the joke is well and truly on the rest of the Premier League as, in glorious defiance of that heavy initial handicap, a golden season for Suarez currently sees him top of the goal charts with 29 as well as top of the assists table with 12.

Yesterday, Suarez was widely quoted as telling Liverpool’s increasingly excited supporters to "stay calm and not worry", but you can’t help thinking that it might be of much greater value to the club’s title tilt if he were to address the same words to the mirror.

In the aftermath of Sunday’s thrilling 3-2 victory over Manchester City, the headlines were understandably dominated by Steven Gerrard’s stirring words to his team-mates at the final whistle. But not altogether lost in the hugely emotional fall-out were the cautionary comments of cooler heads who had noticed Suarez once more flirting with self-destruction.

Put bluntly, Suarez could consider himself very fortunate to have still been on the pitch for that post-match huddle, one almost ludicrously blatant dive charitably going unpunished by referee Mark Clattenburg with the Uruguayan already on a yellow. Given that the booking had come as early as the fifth minute, Suarez should have known that he was already on probation. His opponents certainly didn’t let him forget it, using every opportunity which arose thereafter to pressurise and petition the ref to show red.

Such provocation can never be condoned but it’s such a familiar part of the game now that the onus must always be on the accused not to give his enemies succour by voluntarily making a bad situation worse.

But the opposite applied at Anfield last Sunday as a frequently petulant Suarez seemed possessed once again by the darker angels of his nature, so much so that, on another day, he could easily have walked when a see-saw game — and a see-saw title race — was still in the balance.

With a professional’s eye for danger, Gary Neville noted during live Sky commentary that Suarez was walking a tightrope and, once the dust had settled, John Giles went further by calling on Rodgers to rein in his volatile striker. And former whistle-blower Graham Poll had this to say about the Suarez paradox: "From my perspective, while I would have found him a complete pain for the 90 minutes I was refereeing him, I would have to admit that as a supporter, I would want him to play for my team."

With just four games to go and Daniel Sturridge an injury worry, the last thing Liverpool need is Suarez going off the deep end again. Rodgers has man-managed the player brilliantly this season but, having rallied the troops in public last Sunday, skipper Gerrard could do worse than lend his gaffer a helping hand now by having a private a word in Suarez’s ear.

The message would be a familiar one for the Uruguayan at Anfield, but now with added deadline urgency: no man is bigger than the team or bigger than the club.

Leading player of the year candidate Suarez needs to take that lesson to heart. Otherwise, Liverpool’s single greatest strength could prove to be their single greatest liability.