A difference in character

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By Aron

Much has been made of Sunday’s game against ManU. Kuyt scoring his first Liverpool hat trick, Suarez dazzling us with his control and determination, and King Kenny celebrating his 60th birthday in style are all great stories coming out of the match. However not all of the stories were positive.

Right before the half Jamie Carragher lunged in on Nani, leaving him with a nasty gash on his leg and in the ensuing scuffle Nani ended up bursting into tears. Should it have been a red? Maybe, although I believe this is karma paying us back for Gerrards weak red in the FA Cup match last time. Nani’s injury was followed by Rafael going studs in on Lucas with the same potential to damage as Carragher’s lunge on Nani. Lucas escaped more or less unscathed however.

So why did I choose the title “A difference in character” for this post?

According to news reports, Jamie went to the visitors changing room after the match to apologize to Nani for the injury. He was willing even to walk into the change room to apologize, walking in among a team with whom he has not had the best of relationships. In short, he acted with class. He owned up for his mistake even in the face of a difficult situation.

Nani, being the coward he is, refused to meet him. He also avoided him in the hallway (again, according to news reports).

While I have no love for ManU I wouldn’t try to paint all of them with the same brush as Nani. He is a special sort of brat that I detest. He epitomizes the worst aspects of the beautiful game.

But here is what spurred me into writing this piece: In addition to the Carragher/Nani incident, I read today that Rafael has not reached out to Lucas yet to apologize for his tackle. Normally not a huge deal, but the two play for Brazil and are international team mates.

Lucas was gracious in saying that he is sure he would catch up later with Rafael and that he understands why he didn’t reach out after the game, however I disagree and someone with character would have contacted a team mate after such a scenario.

Carragher and Lucas both showed character and class, they epitomize the Liverpool way and it is one of the reasons why I love this club. In my mind ManU also confirmed where I believe they stand on the issue of character: Lacking.

When you play for a club like Liverpool you are standing on the shoulders of giants. You wear the same shirt that some of the greatest footballers have ever worn, and there is a duty that comes with that. The current players on the club respect must (and do) respect that.

But it raises a concern I have:

Luis Suarez is already proving to be a terrific signing and has the potential to be one of the Liverpool greats. However my one concern about him is that he also has the potential to lose his head and do something stupid, like biting another player. In the scuffle after the Lucas tackle he actually did grab Rafael by the hair, if only briefly. My hope is that Carragher, Gerrard, Lucas and the rest impart upon our young Uruguayan the need to not only play well, but to respect the Liverpool way and act with character and class. If he does learn this, and continue to play the way he has been, I have no doubt he will be a LFC great.

More Stories Carra Kenny Dalglish King Kenny Lucas Luis Suarez Manchester United Nani

10 Comments

  1. Nani has been diving for too long now, and getting away with it. A crunching tackle was well overdue. As for rafael, we all know now what a dirty little player his is

  2. Having seen Suarez celebrate cheating Uruguay past Ghana in the World Cup, my main problem with him joining Liverpool was that unsportsmanslike streak – I think it was Antoine who said this is just a competitive attitude but I thought it was undignified.

    He is undoubtedly talented and has been excellent for us since joining, but, like you, I would like to see someone instil some proper sporting values in the kid.

  3. And Albert Stubbins never took to the field without a clean white hankie.I wouldn’t want Suarez watered down . He is a combative player who you want up for it when your getting rough housed by the likes of Stoke

  4. I couldn’t agree more with this article, about the character of our club, about how this seems to have been restored by Kenny, about how much character Carra has, and how much Lucas has learned, and that you cannot tar the characters of all of the Man Utd squad with the same Nani/Rooney loobrush. Rafael is young, and still has stuff to learn, to be fair to him (though not excusing anyone here either).

    I really hope the rest of the lads can help Luis with his on-field temperament. If his fiery latin passion for winning can be tempered only slightly by the traditional values of our club, as epitomised by Carra, then I am sure we will be OK.

    The other side of me is kind of waiting for an incident with Luis to kick off, at some point sooner or later. And thinking about it, even if it’s a red once or twice in a season, I would happily accept that from him as well as his goals and assists and titles came with them.

    But again, great article.

  5. I wouldn’t make too much of the Rafael-Lucas tackle. Yes these too are from the same nation and will be in the national team together. Lucas is too intelligent to let it come between them and Rafael, although a dirty little player when fired up will have felt differently after the event. No grudges will be kept after the game beteeen the two because of where they are- a long way from home. They will talk after the game and Rafael will explain and say Sorry and both will leave it at that. Nano and Carra do not share the same backgrounds or play in the national team so Nani can avoid Carra if he wants, Rafael can’t. Lucas is too sensible to make a mountain out of a molehill like Nani. I expect that in the holiday period or on national duty the bits will talk about it on Brazilian TV and put it to rest until the next game

  6. I absolutely love the fact that in Suarez we have someone up front who is a super link player, can dribble, shoot, assist and has a bit of fight in him.

  7. Well nani if not selected for the Portuguese football team can always represent the Portuguese Olympic team in, you guessed it, DIVING! He has had more than enough practice already.

  8. I read this article yesterday. I did not agree with everything that was written, though i agree with it 90%. Lets not keep talking about what Luis Suarez did in the past. He said he regrets biting that PSV twat and he wants to start afresh. So why should we keep expecting the worst.
    Even if he does create some ‘scenes’ i dont care, we bought him to score and create scoring chances. So everything else doesnt matter. Besides he said he wants to be a better man.

    Ddnt Gerrarad spend plenty of tym in coart for beating up a twat in a bar. I think those court room battles played a part costing us the league.
    Didnt Carra gore Nani? Why dont u talk about that. Or because its Carra, u cant condemn him. I know if it was Suarez u would have made a meal of it. Coz u worried about his Rafael skirmish and not Carra’s stupid lunge. Suarez Ddnt hurt anyone
    Even if u slate me, i dont care, i am a LFC fan. Carra and Steven are my idols. Bt im nt blind to their mistakes. Like some of us fans choose to be.
    Finito

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