Who Has Offered More To LFC? Luis Suarez v Fernando Torres

My first article featured Luis Suarez, who came in at No.2 in the ‘Top 10 Premier League Foreign Transfers 2011’.

Undoubtedly, Suarez and Torres are two different breed of strikers. Suarez likes to come deep pick the ball up and run at defenders or attack from wide positions. Whereas Torres generally lingers on the shoulder of a defender and stays predominately in the middle of the field giving central defenders a hard time, trying to beat the offside trap while running onto through balls. Both players posses great pace, are decent headers of the ball and are instinctive finishers, moreover, both players are also a threat from long range.

If Suarez isn’t scoring, he’s creating chances for team-mates, nut-meging an opponent or working his socks off tracking back to reclaim possession. In my opinion, Suarez offers more on the pitch than Torres ever did. Don’t get me wrong, when Fernando Torres was on form he scored many goals for LFC and forgive me for saying I still would love him to be playing for LFC. He instantly linked up well with Gerrard and in the 07/08 and 08/09 seasons the duo where unstoppable. However, if Gerrard was absent for a run of games, Torres seemed to struggle, due to the lack of supply. In these situations with the absence of Gerrard, Suarez still excels by creating chances and scoring goals. If Suarez isn’t scoring, his motivation and enthusiasm never seems to decline, he still plays a blinder in comparison to Torres, if he wasn’t scoring he generally had a bad game.

Due to the injuries to Steven Gerrard, and more recently Suarez’s 8 match ban means that these two players have been given little playing time together, which obviously has effected their on-field relationship. When Suarez returns from his ban it will be interesting to watch these two world-class players linking up. I have only one prediction, more goals for Luis Suarez. So far in Suarez's first 12 months at Liverpool he has only notched up 9 goals in the Premier League, compared to Torres 24 goals. Although these stats give no support to the energy, motivation and versatility that Suarez shows in every game and in the majority of games Liverpool have won he has been my man of the match.

Unfortunately, every player has their weaknesses and Suarez’s is his temperament, lack of respect for referees and opponents. His worrying lack of discipline, that has been shown at Liverpool and Ajax, and frequently threatens to undermine Suarez, this is an area he needs to work on. I can understand at times tempers may be flared in the heat of the game, but this has never been ‘The Liverpool Way’, therefore in my view players should respect the traditions of the club. In comparison, Torres, seemed to have studied some of the history of LFC and became completely immersed in ‘The Liverpool Way.’ Hopefully, this will come with time with Suarez. Unfortunately, for Torres much of his respect from LFC fans was lost due to his mid-season transfer to Chelsea in 10/11 season.

In my opinion, Suarez offers more to LFC, due to his versatility, enthusiasm and natural psychological skills he holds to motivate himself when situations are not goes his way. When he puts on a red shirt I honestly cannot see him having a bad game. Unlike Torres, every time Suarez has played for LFC he has given 100% and that is something you have to respect. With a little help in controlling his temperament and learning the history and traditions of the club, I can see Luis Suarez becoming a Liverpool FC Legend!