(A very good read. SRC) JAMIE CARRAGHER: Luis Suarez will give you nightmares... but here is how England can stop Uruguay striker at the World Cup Luis constantly flies in the face of what you would expect to be normal The thing that makes him so difficult to pull back is his tremendous strength His finishing has improved dramatically in the last three years It is best to either power into him with a tackle as he is on the half-turn when taking possession, or jockey him and run backwards Luis Suarez has England in his sights and will be determined to condemn Roy Hodgson and Co to an early exit from the World Cup now he has recovered from knee surgery. He is one of the best I played alongside during my career and here’s why he could give England nightmares. ‘A’ for attitude He is one of the most driven players in world football and his appetite for work is incredible. Luis has been involved in a tournament for each of the past five summers — two World Cups, the Olympics, the Confederations Cup and the Copa America — but a punishing schedule won’t slow him down. Luis constantly flies in the face of what you would expect to be normal and that has been shown by the way he’s fought to get himself ready for this contest. The operation he had on his knee should have meant a six-week lay-off but he has defied medics by shaving time off his rehabilitation We used to see players go into the treatment room at Melwood with the slightest tweak but Luis will push himself through the pain barrier time and again. All he wants to do is have a ball at his feet and be on the training ground. That approach is what sets him apart. Once he’s gone, forget it I wouldn’t say Luis has speed like Daniel Sturridge or Raheem Sterling but he rarely gets caught when he gets on the wrong side of a defender and he scored goals against Tottenham and Everton at Anfield last season to prove that — leaving Phil Jagielka and Michael Dawson chasing in vain. The thing that makes him so difficult to pull back is his tremendous strength and the way he uses his upper body as a shield to hold off defenders — you think you can get a foot in on him but he is elusive and always has the edge when he wriggles away. He is the best in the world at doing that. His finishing has improved dramatically in the last three years. When Liverpool signed him in January 2011, I thought we were signing a good player but I was cautious because scoring lots in Holland didn’t equate to scoring lots in the Barclays Premier League. Dirk Kuyt, for instance, did a great job for Liverpool but he didn’t score as regularly as for Feyenoord. Afonso Alves went to Middlesbrough with a massive reputation but couldn’t do on Teesside what he had done for Heerenveen. There was a feeling early on that Suarez might need three or four opportunities to score. I remember in Brendan Rodgers’ first game against West Brom in August 2012 he wasted a hatful, but since that day he hasn’t looked back and his conversion rate last season was excellent. He can score any type of goal from anywhere on the pitch at any time in the game. One of my favourites of his was the sublime chest control and deft finish against Newcastle in November 2012. Luis is so good now that it actually comes as a surprise when he misses. Genius at work Luis is in the top five or six players in the world as he does extraordinary things. As soon as we started training with him, it was clear he was the real deal and he did things that would take your breath away. He has made an art out of nutmegs. You think you can stop him, you know what he is trying to do, but in a flash the ball will go through your legs and he is away. I have watched his dribble past four Manchester United defenders in March 2011 countless times but I still don’t know how he did it. The game that provided ultimate proof of his brilliance was a 5-2 win at Fulham in May 2011. Maxi Rodriguez scored a hat-trick but Luis was unplayable and man of the match. I said after that he was one of the best in the Premier League. Now it is beyond dispute he’s one of the finest on the planet. Raheem Sterling: We need to shut out Luis Suarez against Uruguay A glimmer of hope? The first thing Jagielka and Gary Cahill will have to be wary of is getting too tight to Luis. If you try to do that, he will just hold off you and then run away with the ball at his feet; if you try to close him down too quickly, he’ll slip the ball through your legs. It is best, then, to either power into him with a tackle as he is on the half-turn when taking possession, or jockey him and run backwards. Concentration is vital as one lapse and he will be away. Of all the players I watched against him last year, West Ham’s Winston Reid coped with him best. It would be pointless for England to think, though, that they can rough him up. You can’t intimidate him with a kick and he thrives with a physical battle. For a defender now, there is no more difficult task in football than marking an on-song Luis Suarez. mail
Posted on: Wed, 18 Jun 2014 21:00:00 +0000
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