SEE if you can spot the difference between these four players:
- Charles Itandje
- Luis Suarez
- Mamadou Sakho
- Philippe Coutinho
Any ideas?
For those who don’t remember, or just don’t know, Itandje was a reserve goalkeeper who misbehaved during the Hillsborough memorial service in 2009. He was disciplined by the club for his behaviour which was described as “wholly unacceptable”, and the incident spelled the end of his Liverpool career.
You’ll remember the other three but, for the purposes of the article, Liverpool signed Suarez for a club-record fee of £22.8million in January 2011, while he was serving a ban in the Netherlands for biting PSV Eindhoven player Otman Bakkal during a match on November 20, 2010.
Following a game against Manchester United in October 2011, Suarez was charged with, and found guilty of, using “insulting words with a reference to Mr Evra’s colour” to Manchester United’s Patrice Evra by an FA commission. Suarez was fined £40,000 and banned for eight games.
In Liverpool’s next encounter with United in February, during the pre-game handshakes Suarez avoided shaking Evra’s hand, for which Suarez and Kenny Dalglish were later forced to apologise. Suarez was also banned for one match for making an obscene gesture towards Fulham fans.
Suarez was rewarded with a new, long-term contract in August 2012.
He then decided to have a nibble on the shoulder of Branislav Ivanovic in a match against Chelsea in April 2013, for which he was banned for 10 games, then tried to force through a move to Arsenal in the summer of that same year despite having claimed previously that he wanted to leave Liverpool to get away from the English press.
The best player I have ever seen in the flesh was crowned player of the year the following season, after the club refused to allow him to leave, before sealing a dream move to Barcelona in July 2014.
A hell of a ride for a player who was only at the club for three and a half years.
Sakho has a shorter list of incidents to report, including being upset and leaving the stadium when left out of the squad to play Everton in September 2014, followed by the more serious incident of taking fat-burning pills without the club’s approval which saw him banned by UEFA from playing in Liverpool’s 2016 Europa League run in. On May 28, 2016, the ban expired after the substance was found to not be on the banned substance list. The case was dismissed by UEFA in July 2016.
During Liverpool’s pre-season tour of the United States in the summer of 2016, Sakho was sent home by Jürgen Klopp for not respecting the rules that had been put in place for the squad. Klopp revealed that Sakho had been late for the team’s flight, missed a medical treatment session and was also late for a team meal. As a result, Sakho was demoted from the senior squad and only played competitive football with the reserves before being loaned and subsequently sold to Crystal Palace, despite Michael Beale praising his attitude while playing for the under 23s.
Which brings us to Coutinho.
In January 2017, the club’s little magician signed a five-year contract containing no release clauses. After signing, he told the club’s website:
“I would like to thank everybody at the club, first of all. I am very happy to sign a new contract here. It is a club that I am very grateful to and this shows my happiness here. I will work much harder to repay the belief shown in me. I signed this new contract to stay here for a few more years because it’s a great honour for me. It gives me great happiness because I was welcomed here with open arms by everyone at the club and the supporters right from my first day. I am very thankful to this football club for everything.”
That gratefulness and happiness lasted around six months before he realised that Barcelona wanted to sign him, subsequently handed in a transfer request and attempted to force through a move partly by, it appears, feigning injury to avoid playing for the team in the first few games of the season, before heading off on international duty and running around like a spring chicken.
The consequences for Coutinho? He’ll be welcomed back into the squad with open arms. Klopp has already stated while in Germany during the international break: “We still have a really good player in the squad who can play.”
So, what does this all tell us?
I wrote an article last season following the TAW Player podcast with Damian Hughes about his book, Liquid Thinking, and his research into different cultures at football clubs.
I made the point, which I repeated time and again last year, that no matter how much any of us rated Sakho, he would simply not be brought back into the first-team fold after disrespecting Klopp’s rules on too many occasions (which I make to be three under Jürgen’s management, based on the above short summary).
The culture which Klopp is building throughout his squad and the football club, combined with the acute analysis of Damian, led me to buy in completely to the idea that the group must come first so, regardless of the player’s ability, if they don’t stick to the rules they are out. Full stop. The sacrifice of one player is worthwhile for the greater good.
In hindsight, I have to admit that I was naïve and had forgotten a golden rule of football and, perhaps, of life in general.
When you look at the list of players at the top of the article, it’s clear that you can easily separate them by footballing ability. Imagine if Suarez had laughed during a memorial service. Would the club have sold him? Given the number of extreme incidents that took place during his short spell at the club after which he received the full backing of the club, my best guess is that he would have apologised, the club would have explained how memorial services in Uruguay are happy affairs and he misunderstood the general mood, and we would have all moved on with our lives and forgotten about it, instead focusing on his next ridiculous hat trick against Norwich.
I’m afraid to say that the sad reality of football, even under Klopp, is that the rules change depending on the player’s ability. It’s easier to make an example of a reserve goalkeeper or a centre back of whom you’re not 100 per cent convinced than it is to consign your best (arguably second best) player to the bin because of his unacceptable behaviour.
Interestingly, I think the same would apply to the other players’ views on the situation. If you’re Jordan Henderson and you want to win as many shiny things as possible before you retire, you know you’ve got a better chance of doing it with Suarez or Coutinho in your side, regardless of whether they’ve been biting and abusing opponents, or demanding to leave the very team you play for.
All can be forgiven and forgotten quite quickly when you know your colleague is a superstar who can help to take you to places you might not otherwise go, and it would be much more difficult for Klopp to sell to the dressing room that they’d be better off in the long run without Coutinho because playing him for the under 23s all season would ultimately be good for the culture of the club. Far easier to do that with an erratic centre back or third-choice goalie.
Was Itandje’s behaviour really worse than Suarez’s, and deserving of being punished with expulsion from the club while Luis got a new contract? Granted those incidents were under different management regimes, but the extremes between their respective behaviour is as extreme as the difference between their footballing ability, which I suggest explains the different treatment they each received (notwithstanding that Itandje’s conduct was unacceptable).
Were Sakho’s errors of judgement and sloppy timekeeping really worse than what Coutinho has just done, whereby he has purposefully and repeatedly disrespected his manager and his teammates by attempting to force a move away despite having signed his new contract in January, allowing his now infamous entourage and his murky agent to feed the press with negative information about his relationship with his manager?
I can’t imagine that anyone would argue that Sakho’s behaviour was worse (although even as I typed that I remembered that this will be published on the internet, so no opinion would surprise me).
The sad reality in which we live is that compromises will always be made. Klopp himself gets away with mistakes that others might not because he is charming and handsome, and is able to sweet talk the press in such a way that they give him an easier ride than might otherwise be the case. So I suppose it would be somewhat ironic if he didn’t naturally give Coutinho an opportunity to redeem himself regardless of his conduct over the summer, given his elite-level footballing ability.
I remember when I was a kid watching the cartoon He-Man which always ended with a morale of the story from which we could learn. Something noble and good. Something which taught us how to be better people and to take care of each other.
I don’t ever remember an episode which gave such a real-life lesson though, which appears to be:
If you’re going to break the rules, you’d best make sure you’re bloody good at what you do.
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fair assessment and true am afraid
Great piece Paul, very hard to disagree with any of it. I think that the other thing to consider with Coutinho is that this seems to be his first strike, all be it a very long, drawn out and potentially damaging strike. In his 4.5 years at the club, he has always seemed to be a model pro and has only ever been in the back of the paper, rather than the front. I know that this point does not translate to Suarez and Itandje but I think it is relevant in the Coutinho/Sakho debate. Sakho dropped the ball a few times in relatively quick succession which would seem to show either the inability to learn from his mistakes or a gross lack of respect for his club. Reported incidents from his PSG days would point to the same conclusion. I think that Coutinho stopping short of a VVD style statement of a Sakho-esque Instagram rant may have just kept him on the right side of the ability to be forgiven.
*or a Sakho-esque rant, not of*
Good article, but I don’t completely agree, to be honest… I agree on the fact we were a bit soft on Suarez, maybe. He had quite a disturbing spell during his ‘only’ three years at the club and should maybe have been sold after his bitting incident. That would have been a statemant by the club!
No excuse for Itandje: not respecting the biggest tragedy in the club’s history got the punishment it deserved, full stop!
Sakho is a complex story. He was and still is a lovely carachter. Good person, love for the city, involved in a lot of charity work, funny guy, well respected and loved by the fans… So you forgive his mistakes a bit easier, I guess… But his short spell at the club wasn’t without conflict either. And taking a fat burner without consulting the club doctor ahead of a European final? Sorry to say, no matter how much I liked him, there simply is no excuse for that. And even than he got back into the team, but still couldn’t follow the rules? I understand Klopp completely he had enough of that! The big mistake we made in his case, was not selling him earlier. If Klopp knew he wouldn’t fit his plans anymore, he should have been sold a summer ago.
And what with Coutinho? It’s difficult to say, becuase, to be honest, I haven’t heard anything from the players’ point of view yet. I like to hear what he himself has to say about it. And really: up until this summer, Coutinho always behaved like a true professional. He didn’t force out a move the last two summers, when he easily could have. And carried on doing what he is good at: being a great Liverpool player. I can’t argue about his behaviour the last couple of months, however… But you can argue: what’s his agents’ role in this? Why did he leave it that late to hand in a tranfer request? I’d like to hear that from him.
But generally: there are a lot of differences in those four cases. Ask yourself this question: what is worse?: disrespecting 96 dead people (Itandje), assulting a black opponent/bitting an opponent/trying to force out a move to a PL rival (Suarez), a handful of team related incidents/taking drugs without consulting the club ahead of a European final/wasting your renewed chances by messing up pre season (Sakho) or forcing out a move by handing in a transfer request six moths after signing a new contract (Coutinho)? None of those look pretty good. But you have bad. You have worse. And you have worst. And Phil wasn’t the worst, in my opinion.
I think I must be alone in thinking Coutinho has done absolutely nothing wrong here, bar possibly faking injury – which simply moves him into the same bracket as Van Dijk, Sanchez and all the others who were “injured” at the start of the season.
The fact he signed a new deal in January is irrelevant as the Neymar shaped goalposts had not been moved at that point. Barcelona were not immediately on Coutonho’s radar – once that happened all bets were off to some degree. Even more so as it feels like a one-off opportunity. Next season you’d think Barcelona will have the ducks lined up and plan accordingly. Ask yourself what you’d do in Coutinho’s position…I know what I’d do.
I simply cannot bracket it with biting, racism, doping or any other incident involving the other three
Not entirely alone in thinking that, as it happens. Granted, the timing of the transfer request, no matter how much pressure was exerted on him, wasn’t good. But a lot of his charge sheet can be put down to how much you swallow what’s written in the Catalan press. We don’t even know for sure whether or not the back injury was Klopp’s idea in order to minimise the distraction to the team.
Agreed.
Ability yes but you didn’t mention the time, training and shaping of the formation around this little guy that Klopp and his team have invested into the last 12 months, common sense says the club would look stupid spending all that time and planning then letting it go in an instant for a few quid. Klopp/FSG are building the old Liverpool way at the moment adding the odd player (with the right skillset) to suit the team at the moment and giving players a chance to develop and a run of games (Moreno) with the youngsters building a nice option system to compete and eventually go or take over in the future. Balance and team spirit are everything, Barca won little to nothing last yr with Neymar/Messi because behind the scenes the superstars/board were bickering/upsetting the apple cart.
Pardon me Paul Cope, but you missed the main point about Sakho and hence you compare two complete different things:
Sakho would have been all forgotten, but the reason, why there was no way back, was the infamous tweet prior to the Southampton (I think it was) match. It was aginst the team.
Couts on the other hand side had lots of people (including greedy agents) pressuring him to sign for Barca – besides, no club can compete against the two Spanish two clubs when it comes to South American players.
The same story actually happened with Shinji Kagawa in Dortmund: he loved Klopp and all, but wanted to play in the PL, because this counts more in Asia.
“I can’t imagine that anyone would argue that Sakho’s behaviour was worse” — Josh did it very well recently on this site… no?
My favourite thing about how the club handled the Coutinho situation was how they briefed the press in the last week that they accepted he was injured and did not question the integrity of Coutinho’s medics, thereby absolutely questioning the integrity of his medics by that simple statement. I wonder how Klopp would have handled the multiple Suarez incidents though…
Poor article by this sites standards.Mixture of lack of context and misrepresentation and misunderstanding of every player involved misdemeanours.
From my understanding, the writer is just pointing out that it doesn’t matter what you do, it’s just how good you are. What each player did or didn’t do is irrelevant.
Roy Keane basically said he was the same bell at 32 as he was at 26. Difference is he was less of an asset at 32 and bombed out.
What each player did or didn’t do is irelevant? Sorry mate but thats a ridiculous conclusion to come to.If Mane parks in Klopps parking spot and is forgiven but Jon Flanagan is dumped for punching him in the face,does that support the premise that what you get away with depends on how good you are? For the record I do agree with the premise but the writer did a really poor job of supporting the argument.Sakho and Itandje’s actions made their positions at the club untenable no matter how good or bad they were(Sahko would still be our best CB now).
Ridiculous? Different maybe.
“If you’re going to break the rules, you’d best make sure you’re bloody good at what you do.” Great summary line Paul, and good take on ‘All animals are equal, and some are more equal than others’ :)
I agree Coutinho’s getting special treatment as Luis did while the others are being fecked out and using their indescretions. It’s probably the right way as they are misdeamours and very serious too- plus the Club were looking for excuses to get rid coz the manager wanted them out anyway. Nothing unusual there. But is Coutinho special enough to be treated differently? Yes.
I agree with KM1806- PC put in his request then feigned injury to put pressure fir leaving. The fact they said NO means he’ll definitely get away with this (and close to murder) not just coz he’s a bit special (bit) but because he’s a Star too. Was revered way beyond all others till the Request. Will lose some popularity and trust, but …? Then he scores and all’s forgiven and half-forgotten till next year.
I say leave the chappie be, let him apologise to the Boss and Club, but he won’t to the fans I’d say, without having to re-sign a 10 yrs deal:-D
I think all the comments here are excellent too and agree with most. Btw- Sour_Kaut- if you see this can you send me that tweet of Sakho’s @RedsUpPeter on twtr please?
Peter
my point was though – he has nothing to apologise for. I doubt there is one player in that dressing room who cares. Klopp knows how the game works – especially when a club like Barcelona comes calling.
If anything – the club will be explaining why they didn’t let him go. Coutinho accepts it and we move on.
Thanks for the clarification KM, as I omitted to say that while the feigning of injury may be regarded as a club disrespect, I’m agreeing with you that handing in a TR may not be regarded as disrespectful in the same way. It’s business, and as you say, Klopp would recognise that (though take it as a personal affront too, perhaps leading to his dropping him out of tomorrow’s squad).
This is brilliantly written and basically I think it’s fair to say you cannot morally argue against the arguments. Focusing on the current Coutinho issue though I don’t think that it just comes down to giving him a free ride just due to the world class player he is. In a perfect world you would state as Ancelotti does when being asked about the Dembele case. He just pointed out very straightforward that whenever there is any player declaring not to want to play for him anymore than adios amigo. That’s it it’s a free world and he just wants to work with players that want to be there 110%. But he is at Bayern Munich. So maybe there is Bayern, Barca and Real and nearly never ever a player voluntarily wants to leave those clubs for something more attractive. So for him this is easy to say. For Liverpool though there is much more at stage. A.) and most importantly you need this quality in order to compete for something big and please do not see the first three games only and say you don’t. In just a few weeks bringing a replacement in for Cou- impossible. B.) You need to make a statement to the world that Liverpool is not a selling club any longer. C.) This message also needs to be addressed to your players. You let Cou go and bend in to the drama and next year you have Firminho come playing the same game. So this is also a necessary statement to your players that contracts are to be respected. I mean Liverpool accepted in the Keita issue and did not pressure him to strike and go home and fight for a transfer no matter what. D.) You keep Coutinho so great but it has been so difficult that you cannot nail him down and say you play u23 first and might make it to the squad soon as to sanction him because the turned down amount of money was so big and because you need him bringing in his best football no matter what. So in the end of the day this is it getting the best football out for LFC.