The Kopite View

Should Suarez Be On Ballon d’Or Shortlist ?

Five Barclays Premier League stars and one Brit – Gareth Bale – have been named on FIFA’s 23-man shortlist for the 2014 Ballon d’Or.

Current holder Cristiano Ronaldo and four-time winner Lionel Messi are again favourites for the prestigious award, but there is no place on the shortlist for former Liverpool striker Luis Suarez, who has just finished serving a four month ban for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini during this summer’s World Cup.

It seems remarkable that one unsavoury moment of madness from the controversial but very talented Uruguayan striker has prevented him from challenging for football’s top individual honour.

The biting incident was condoned by the footballing public witnessed on the World’s greatest stage, but Suarez has served his time for his punishment and it should not detract from the amazing season he produced at club level for his former team Liverpool.

Suarez finished top scorer in arguably the toughest league in the World, the Premiership despite missing the start of the season due to serving the end of a 10 game ban.

The Uruguayan’s 31 goal haul almost took Liverpool to their first title win in 20 years and his form lit up the Premiership with some amazing play and goals.

FIFA have a got it wrong by not selecting Suarez on the shortlist for the Ballon d’Or because his tremendous season should not be overshadowed by his much publicised biting incident.

Will Rodgers Splash The Cash For West Brom Striker ?

Reports at the weekend are suggesting that Liverpool are considering a January move for West Brom striker Saido Berahino. The England Under 21 international starlet has already been targeted by Tottenham Hotspur and there has been a £15 million offer mooted by the north London club.

The offer was well below the Baggies’ valuation and it is believed that Liverpool may have to pay in excess of £25 million to land the striker, in what could see a bidding war with Spurs.

The form of Balotelli is prompting the Reds into making a move for another striker even if they can’t offload the Italian in January.

I believe Liverpool need to add another quality striker to their squad regardless of Balotelli’s situation because they can’t depend on the fitness of Daniel Sturridge.

The England striker’s injury worries have been a major blow for Liverpool this season and manager Brendan Rodgers has been left with few options in the striking department.

Berahino looks to be a very good striker and one that would suit Liverpool’s style of play but I can’t see the Reds paying that kind of money after spending so much in the summer.

But Rodgers must bring in another striker in January if Liverpool are to challenge for a top four place that is so important after qualifying for the Champions League last season.

Four Key Points From Liverpool’s Draw With Hull

Liverpool completed another difficult week to their season with a disappointing scoreless draw against Steve Bruce’s Hull City to follow up their hammering by the European Champions Real Madrid last Wednesday.

Here are four key points we can take from Liverpool’s draw against Hull City:

1. Mario Balotelli – The Italian striker is low on confidence, highlighted by his missed opportunity in the final minute that could have made him a hero, and the style of play Rodgers is playing is not suiting the former Manchester City striker. Balotelli worked hard against Hull but didn’t start to look threatening until Rickie Lambert came on in the second half to support him. Rodgers has to play Balotelli with a strike-partner and hopefully the Reds’ boss realises this after seeing the Italian and Lambert combine against Hull.
2. Best Team – Rodgers must select his best team unless he is forced into making changes because he needs to get some consistency and fluency in his team’s play and the constant changes are having a negative effect. Rodgers made three changes for the game against Hull and Henderson’s energy was sorely missed.
3. Coutinho – Must play more often, the little Brazilian is such a clever player that can open up a defence and Liverpool rarely threatened Hull’s defence until Coutinho’s introduction. Rodgers is trying to fit the likes of Markovic and Lallana into his team but he needs to play Coutinho more often.
4. Glen Johnson – With Manquillo coming in for the England defender, it looks like the writing is on the wall for Johnson and he could be on the way out of Anfield soon.

Rodgers Should Bring Carragher Back To Sort Out Defence

Liverpool continue to have defensive problems despite bringing in two new full-backs and a centre half in the summer. Dejan Lovren was heralded as a leader that could martial the Reds defence and prevent Rodgers’ defence from conceding too many goals, but the goals are still being leaked at the back and this is bigger concern than last season because Liverpool are struggling to score goals with Luis Suarez no longer at Anfield and Daniel Sturridge constantly injured.

Sturridge and Suarez helped paper over the cracks with their goals but ultimately Liverpool’s defensive record cost them the Premiership title. Rodgers tried to explain the defensive problems at a recent press conference when he said:

“Our problem and the issue we have which we need to find the solution for is our lack of coaching time. Take this week, we played Wednesday night , the players physically recover on Thursday, and that leaves us with only a short period of time on the training field before we’ve got the game on Saturday.”

Rodgers excuse doesn’t make sense when his side only played one game-a-week last season and Liverpool still conceded too many goals and he had all week to coach his players.

Rodgers needs to have a serious look at his current defensive coaching methods because it is not working and maybe he should ask Jamie Carragher to come back as a coach, to coach the defence, because the former Liverpool defender has been sorely missed since retiring and I think he would be the best man to sort out the Reds’ defensive problems.