In the world today there are always people we love to hate, especially in football. From Robbie Savage for his sneaky antics, to Gary Neville for his unbearable will to win and Didier Drogba for his schoolboy charades that seem to have permeated every inch of football culture.
Luis Suarez is another one of these players, hated for a mixture of all these reasons and more, yet unlike the former, barring Robbie Savage, his influence is seemingly not realised, or rather diluted by the constant criticisms which follow him. Pundits and fans alike will be quick to point out his deficiencies. He is a poor finisher, frustratingly inconsistent and a diver to boot they say. He may be a quality player, but nonetheless he is not a player in the elite bracket of the Premiership. The likes of Rooney, Tevez and van Persie are more clinical strikers, proven 20 goals a season marksmen, whilst the likes of the Spanish maestros Mata, Silva and new boy Santi Carzola are more productive play-makers, charismatic charmers of the ball, manipulating it to do their will.
[quote]…whereas van Persie, Ba, Tevez, Mata, etc can rely on others to create and score goals, Suarez does both for himself in a team void of goals and creativity.[/quote]
Suarez, it seems, is a player stuck in football purgatory, half a play-maker half a goal-scorer, very good at both, yet unspectacular at either trade. Already he has been cast aside quite readily due to his mediocre statistics from his first full season in the Premier League, last season Suarez scored 11 goals to Rooney’s 27 and created 64 chances, 2 of which were assists, to David Silva’s 104, of which 15 were assists, in addition to his disgraceful controversies which shadowed him.
However, although many will be quick to write him off already after only one and a half seasons in England, Suarez should not be judged too quickly. He is a clever and relentless false number nine with the ability to create goals as well as score them, as he is now beginning to show. Already half way past his league goal and assist total for the previous year, the Uruguayan is fast making his name as the most valued player in the Premier League, with an in-depth review of this seasons statistics further showing this.
Luis Suarez a Goal-Scorer?
Although typecast as a bottler in front of goal, Suarez is doing his best to change that opinion this season. Scoring more freely than ever, he has already netted 7 times in 10 games, only Robin van Persie has accumulated more goals, standing as the joint second top goal-scorer level with Demba Ba.
In addition, Suarez’s clear cut chance conversion rate for the season is 38 per cent, 13 per cent better than his overall conversion for the 2011/12 season. Compared to the other two in form strikers in the league today, Ba and van Persie, Suarez’s conversion rate for clear cut chances is only 2 and 5 per cent worse off respectively, pretty good for a striker who has been labelled as someone who cannot shoot or score.However, every cliché does have some truth to it and Suarez’s shot conversion rate does leave something to be desired, standing at 14 per cent and his overall shooting accuracy totalling only 31 per cent; in 10 games he has amassed a total of 51 shots with only 16 of these shots on target. In addition, his overall chance conversion rate stands at 12 per cent.
[quote]In many respects Suarez’s creative ability is what is setting him apart as one of the best players in the Premiership.[/quote]
Nonetheless some mediocre statistics, but when compared to other strikers Suarez’s figures can be put into perspective. Tevez, for example, only has a chance conversion rate of 16 per cent, whilst Rooney’s stands at 11 per cent and Jermaine Defoe, widely regarded as one the most ruthless finishers in the game, is currently only 15 per cent. Although this does not in any way validate Suarez’s poor conversion rates or shooting accuracies, it does show that many top strikers in the league are statistically, from a negative standpoint, in Suarez’s bracket but are yet not tarred with the brush even though they are failing to do what Suarez is doing this very season, taking his chances and scoring goals.
Next Page: Suarez the Creator, Liverpool FC comparison and conclusion!
Read on to see how he compares to the Premier League’s top creators and what Suarez’s team-mates are doing in comparison!
