There's no real football. England games don't count as they have no relevance to actual football ('specially not the way Roy Hodgson gets his teams to play) and their stupid, pointless friendlies appear to have one purpose and one purpose only; to break Liverpool players. Yet again we send a player away with the national team and yet again they send him back injured; in the past it's been Jamie Redknapp (repeatedly) Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen, this time it's Daniel Sturridge. Just as he's showing his worth as a player it looks as though England duty has set back the start of next season for him.
But for once this is only a sideshow. What's really disturbing me is this;
I have had it up to here (taps underneath chin with back of right hand) with the Luis Suarez saga. Already. And it's only the second day. And it's going to rumble on for bloody weeks by the looks of it.
Sky Sports appears to have spent the day using the same pull quotes from the same interview that they've been using all week and letting viewers imagine that these are new details. They use quotes from a piece that states that Suarez' agent has said that his client is going nowhere and manage to omit one important bit. The bit where Suarez' agent says that his client is going nowhere.
It would seem that Sky were deliberately trying to inflame the Twitterverse if not for the fact that Suarez' agent doesn't appear to have informed his client that he's going nowhere. Luis is clearly giving interviews on film where he explains (as long as we can rely on the translator's abilities) his reasons for leaving Liverpool as though it were a done deal.
Liverpool, of course, insist that there is no deal, no prospect of a deal, no contact from Suarez or his people. You can't help but feel that we are on the edge of a summer of brinksmanship which will ultimately, inevitably end with Luis Suarez at the Santiago Bernebeau and Brendan Rodgers with increased spending power.
In which case let's get it sorted as soon as possible and start spending because at the moment I feel more than happy to let our little Uruguayan genius go. I don't believe Luis' story. I don't believe that he 'is leaving' (his translated quote) because of the media's treatment of him. Yes, the media's attitude to him this season has been a disgrace but as far as I can tell the media had absolutely no part to play in his bizarre decision to bite Branislav Ivanovic. Does he genuinely feel that the Spanish media will be more forgiving of any transgressions, less likely to go looking for a story to fill that day's paper? Jose Mourinho is so enamoured of the Spanish press that he's coming back to England.
If Luis is leaving as he appears to be I, for one, would be a damn sight happier if he came out and told the truth;
"Look, I've enjoyed my time but Real Madrid are in the Champions League every season, I can't see Liverpool competing at the sharp end of European competition for a couple of years and I quite fancy playing at the highest level. And Madrid is a hell of a lot warmer than West Derby."
A simple "Real Madrid offer Champions League Football and I can't turn the opportunity down" would suffice.
Luis Suarez has been fantastic to watch for two seasons but ultimately he's just a player. Players move on, you replace them. We lost Keegan, we got Dalglish. We thought Dalglish and Rush were an irreplaceable partnership, we got Barnes/Beardsley/Aldridge/Houghton and the best football that a British team has ever produced (5-0 v Nottingham Forest, are you really going to argue with Tom Finney on this). Life goes on. And 40-50 million doesn't half help life go on.
So, Luis, if you're going to go then go. But be honest about it, don't hide behind excuses, smokescreens and lies, you owe us that much at least.
Oh, one other thing, whatever happens from here... burning shirts is pathetic.
Check out Ian's blog Mumbling Into The Void and follow his mumblings on Twitter here.
Want to write a guest blog for LFC Online? Get in touch
Latest Forum Discussion