Aggrieved at the severity of Luis Suarez’s 10-match ban for biting an opponent, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers launched a robust defence of the striker Thursday and said the punishment was given “against the man rather than the incident.
Suarez was hit with one of English football’s longest suspensions for on-pitch misbehaviour after biting Branislav Ivanovic during Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with Chelsea on Sunday.
“He has a sanction that doesn’t really fit what he did,” Rodgers said. “I can’t help but look at it and look at the sanction that’s been put on Luis for the incident, and honestly feel the punishment has been against the man rather than the incident. That’s my underlying feeling.”
Backing up his theory, Rodgers cited a similar offence committed in 2006 by Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe, who only received a yellow card. Defoe escaped further punishment because the referee saw the incident at the time, meaning the incident couldn’t be looked at retroactively. In the same year, Chester’s Sean Hessey was banned for five matches for a bite on Stockport’s Liam Dickinson.
“For him [Suarez] to receive that when other comparisons of similar instances is somewhat different, is hard to take,” Rodgers said. “It is the severity of the ban that has hurt most. That is something we are bitterly disappointed with.”
A disciplinary panel ruled that a regular three-match ban for violent conduct was “clearly insufficient” and added seven games to Suarez’s suspension, which rules him out for the rest of the campaign and for the first six matches of next season.
Suarez has until Friday to appeal against the extra seven games added to his sanction.