Another Suarez ban?

[Douglas Reynholm]

Sorry, the game has changed a lot since then, it is pretty much a non contact sport now which makes Suarez antics even more extreme.

Tackles like that happened all the time, go back 10 years further and It was as close to the norm.as can be.

You can not compare tackles in a sport where tackles are still a feature with someone trying to bite an opponent, there are rules and punsihments for bad tackles, they are called free kicks, pens, yellow cards and red cards, there is no law to outlaw biting so it has to be dealt with hard.

[Billy Bongo]

Good points well made. Summer seems to suit you.

[SuperGrover]

So he is banned and that may very well be the impetus for a sale. If so and Liverpool get Alxis Sanchez I, for one, will still be very interested in their attack. Sanchez should fit in nicely in Rodgers system with Studge and Sterling up front. I am still keen on Liverpool even without Bucktooth.

[The Statinator]

I think his ban is related more to the imagery and what is deemed acceptable behaviour by society.
The debate about Cattermole vs Suarez (ie damage inflicted etc) is a valid point and persistent, dangerous play should be punished with harsher bans.
The reason his behaviour is attracting such outcry is because as human beings the downright scoundrelous behaviour of sneakily biting someone then feining injury to try and pass the blame is not tolerated in any part of our make up.
Even as children, this is stamped out as it is an extremely undesirable trait.
Biting, elbowing, cheating or racial slurs by anyone at any age especially as a snidy attack, followed by a refusal to tell the truth is a big black mark on their personality.
Dangerous play, such as two-footed tackles, although unnaceptable is more intricately related to the physical nature of a contact sport and generally accepted by most players that they will encounter this on some level in their careers with such high stakes and 50/50 challenges (not always just 50/50's but mostly).
Biting is a very personal and darstadly act more related to personal boundaries. Again, it is not perceived as something players will encounter and is not a socially acceptable mindset. Its much less common, but more animalistic, predator-prey orientated and is generally not carried out as part of the play but as a targeted attack.
When you consider the implications on a wider level and the credibility the suits at FIFA are employed to see over. Its no surprise really.
Just my 2 cents.

[Giggs11]

And very well put too, but honestly , if you need it spelling out then there's something wrong with you...

[SuperGrover]

Liverpool with Shaqiri would be interesting. They would have a ton of attacking players but not a lot of answers in DM or in the backline. I could see them try 4-3-3 with a front six of:

Hendo-Gerrard-Lallana
Sterling-Strurridge-Shaqiri

Super Sub - Coutinho

I think it would be a disaster defensively (Gerrard needs more support than that IMO) but would be crazy interesting offensively.

[DrBunker]

This is just astonishing, the most disingenuous excuse I've seen in a long time and the fact that they'll probably succeed makes my growing hatred of the game even greater:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32926042

Uruguay players' union legal adviser Ernesto Liotti said: "With these facts [of alleged corruption], Fifa's decisions in the last few years have come under a mantle of suspicion.

"We have no proof that this [sanction] was made within the framework of illegal actions but nothing guarantees us that it wasn't."

[murf]

I just love their cheek.

How they can even suggest a general culture of bribery (most arrests being from the Americas too!) was involved in the Suarez ban, unless someone took a brown envelope to increase it....

[DrBunker]

No New Year's resolution from you then murf?