Manchester United were the last side to concede a league goal to Suarez- but this season has been disappointing for the Uruguayan.
Forget the racism allegations. Forget the handshake, or lack of one, all the controversy has been a smokescreen deflecting attention from the front man’s poor strike rate.
After another defeat, Liverpool’s eighth in the league this season, there are a lot of frustrated supporters, and Kenny Dalglish is taking the brunt of the criticisms for a raft of poor signings.
While Andy Carroll, Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam and Stewart Downing are all regularly criticised, the man with a worldwide reputation has been equally disappointing this season.
Luis Suarez signed for Liverpool for £22.8 million. For that price the club believed they were getting a proven goalscorer- and his record spoke for itself.
He scored three goals at the 2010 World Cup, and 81 in 110 games for Ajax.
Like Mateja Kezman, Afonso Alves, and even team mate Dirk Kuyt, he has failed, so far at least, to transfer his prolific strike rate in Holland’s Eredivisie to England’s Premier League.
After a promising few months at the end of last season, 2011-12 has been disappointing for the Uruguayan, scoring just six league goals in 20 games.
He has of course been subject to an eight game ban, but it is his profligacy in the games he has played that is the biggest concern.
Liverpool’s home form has been the subject of much discussion this year, winning just four and drawing eight, failing to beat several teams in the lower half of the table, including Blackburn, Norwich and Swansea, and Suarez has been one of the biggest culprits.
It has not been that they are failing to create chances, purely that they are failing to convert them. Statisticians at Opta last week showed that Luis Suarez takes an average of 15 shots before he scores a goal.
For a striker at the top level, one of reputed world class quality, it is an incredibly poor conversion rate, and one that simply has to improve.
If Suarez had been as clinical up front as Robin van Persie has been for Arsenal, Liverpool would likely now be sitting in the top four.
Of course the racial abuse allegations will have had a detrimental affect on his mental state for part of the season, but his wastefulness in front of goal was apparent even before the incident which shocked football occurred in mid-October.
To call Suarez the Premier League’s most under performing striker would be false, in that field former Anfield hero Fernando Torres is in a league of his own.
But Suarez would currently sit in second. £35 million man Andy Carroll was in fact over performing his ability at Newcastle, with form which vastly inflated his transfer fee, but Suarez has scored over 150 career goals already, and Liverpool supporters should expect more from a man with such a record.
Another limp showing against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Saturday was typical of Suarez’ inability to add a cutting edge to Liverpool’s performances this season.
There is still time to pick it up before the season winds up, Liverpool have 11 games to go, starting with the Merseyside derby against Everton tomorrow night.
Suarez scored against Everton earlier in the season, and showed in the World Cup he is a big game player, so the game could be the one to re-ignite his spark.
He will need it, because Liverpool are becoming increasingly dependent on him, and his on-pitch reputation is suffering as badly as his off-pitch one.
Do you agree with our assessment of Suarez? Is he struggling to adapt to the Premier League?
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