KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum Do we perform better without Suarez?

Hi guys,

I know Suarez plays an integral part in our setup, but I am just starting to wonder whether we perform better when Suarez is not played as a striker. It seems to me that for all the good work he does he wastes an awful lot of chances and perhaps underestimates his teammates sometimes. I have watch us on a few occassions when he hasn't played and despite us not looking as flashy and flowing we seem to grind out some pretty good results without him in the squad.

It seems almost as if when he isn't playing , the rest of team perform better, or try harder. Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me?

I can agree in a certain sense, I feel when Suarez is on the pitch a lot of the team when in a goal scoring position will pass it to Suarez, they seem to have little faith in themselves. Maybe the games when he isn't on the pitch the players feel like they need to step it up.

It was clear that the instruction was for midfield to get more shots in from outside the box. If we can combine that with suarez around, we'll be quite good.

I think you both have good points, not sure what it is, but i really feel that perhaps moving Luis out to the left wing instead of playing him as a striker and maybe using Shelvey as a false 9 could improve our fortunes.

Shelvey looked outstanding the that role on 2 occassions now, and despite the fact he hasn't scored himself he has certainly influenced play in such a way that allows our other players to score goals, although he did get one in one of those games, i believe it was a close range header....

I think Brendan might have given himself a headache following our displays with such a setup...

Bellamy carried us last season without Suarez. He is no longer there, we need Suarez and even if he doesn't score he adds something to the team.

we had the same arguments when gerrard was in his pomp

Suarez is our most threatening player in front of goal, he should stay in the striker role I believe. He just needs more support on the wings and midfield both with assists and goals.

I don't know, I believe that at Ajax Suarez played either as a central attacking mid or as a wide left winger/striker....and I think that is where he is most effective. Playing as a CAM he still contributes with a bunch of goals but his creativity can also be used to draw defenders out and create oppurtunities for others... I don't know whether BR plans on playing im as a striker throughout his time at LFC or whether he is waiting to get a striker that is efficient enough to be able to put Luis on the left or just behind the striker... Not sure....

I thought BR wanted the front 3 to be interchangeable, would cause the defence a load of problems.

I think because the rest of the team was so short on goals and confidence, they were relying on him a bit too much. This week will have been good for them. Next week they'll have 2 other PL goal scorers on the sheet to work with as well as Suarez.