Luis Suarez has been nothing short of a revelation since arriving in the Premier League last January from Ajax for £22.7m. His pace, inventiveness and work rate have stood out in particular and marked him out as one of the Premier League’s true star performers. However, while Suarez was signed with the intention of being a key performer, are Liverpool in danger of becoming a one-man team by relying on him too much?
The disparagingly used ‘one-man team’ remark is often levelled at teams with a perceived over-reliance on one player. This very same criticism has been levelled at Liverpool for years, with Steven Gerrard often being made to look head and shoulders above the rest of the side he’s been playing in – which when it includes the likes of Djimi Traore, Josemi and Antonio Nunez is really no wonder really.
But aren’t most teams in the Premier League overly-reliant on one player or another? Arsenal rely on Robin Van Persie a huge amount, so much so that he’s scored 29 of Arsenal’s 56 goals in 2011. You could by that same very token argue that Man Utd are heavily reliant on Wayne Rooney, whether he’s scoring goals or plugging a gap in midfield.
Only Man City and Chelsea, to my knowledge in the Premier League at present, are capable of sharing out the workload, mostly because they are the league’s two biggest spenders in the transfer market.
Swansea goalkeeper, the quite brilliant Michel Vorm had this to say on the matter after his Swansea side’s recent 0-0 draw at Anfield last weekend: “Maybe they rely on Suarez too much. He is a player with incredible qualities. He’s a world-class player. But maybe they rely too much on him. He is a player who can make a difference, you know that. But he didn’t, and they didn’t score. Maybe because we kept him quiet they didn’t have other options.”
For anyone that has watched Liverpool closely over the past few months will tell you, while the side has been overhauled, and at great expense, the side often look to one man to break the deadlock – Suarez.
This is as much an indictment on the success of Dalglish’s other signings as it is on Suarez’s quality in the final third. Andy Carroll has struggled for form and fitness and looks miles off being a natural finisher, let alone the physically dominant striker that he was purchased with in mind. Stewart Downing has contributed the root cause of sod all and Charlie Adam and Jordan Henderson’s roles dictate that they provide and instigate moves rather than finish them off themselves.
Since his move, Suarez has scored eight and assisted eight goals in 24 Premier League games. Liverpool’s best performances have come when he’s spearheaded a fluid attack alongside the likes of the criminally underused Craig Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt. Alongside Andy Carroll, though, while their partnership is in it’s relative infancy, they still resemble a duo going through teething problems.
It’s worth noting too, though, that Suarez has played just eight games alongside Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard since he signed for the club, with Gerrard being dogged by his own injury demons.
Simply poor transfer work. Bought a bunch footballing bananas…and over ripe ones at that!