A downbeat Scott takes stock after a point that may or may not have been earned by a dive:
After winning at the Britannia last weekend, Liverpool, despite the presence of owner John Henry, came out so sluggishly against Aston Villa that they very deservedly fell behind 2-0 in short order. Perhaps not fully recovered from the tough 5-3 win over Stoke City (or perhaps already looking forward to the Merseyside derby), there was not a red shirt on the pitch with any material pep. Last week it was Gerrard lying deep, Henderson a little lost, Coutinho helpless in front of goal, Sturridge triumphant in return and Suarez sublime. Against Aston Villa, Gerrard still started deep, Henderson began to feel his way, Coutinho was helpless everywhere and was rightly substituted at half-time, Sturridge scored again but failed to link as effectively with the much-more-human Suarez.
In fact, Suarez was so human that he, sadly, fell back into his diving ways. Brad Guzan had come out bravely and went to ground but pulled back his arms as the Uruguayan rounded him. To the extent there was any contact, it was minimal but Suarez went down nonetheless and the referee, way behind the action because of the lightning-quick counter, will have to be excused for giving the penalty. At full speed, even the TV viewers’ perspective seemed to show a foul. But in slow motion I was convinced that it was not a penalty and that Suarez had dived. That Gerrard stepped up and scored the equalizer as a result made me think back to the “Old Suarez” who purposely batted a ball away from goal with his hands to help Uruguay overcome Ghana in the World Cup. While I hope and pray that this was an aberration and not a backslide, I said before that the only way to judge if Suarez had truly changed was to observe his behavior when things weren’t going his way. He failed his first test.
Stepping down from my moral soapbox, at least Liverpool managed a point, although it is very difficult to feel relieved about getting a point at home to Aston Villa. Still, 2-0 down and playing worse than bad, we live to fight another day.
