Morning all!

Honestly, I’ve never digested so many opinions relating to one subject. In regards to ‘Suevra-gate’, I’m amazed just how many varying definitions of right and wrong are appearing, when really, there should be one unifying voice on what happened.

So, what precisely did happen? Well, you have to travel back in time to Saturday 15th October, the day that Liverpool hosted Manchester United at Anfield in a 1-1 draw. During the match, there was an altercation between Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra, which at the time, was nothing to raise any eyebrows as both are pretty hostile personalities, though after the final whistle, that altercation transpired to carry a lot more meaning than it had first appeared. Talking to Canal Plus straight after the match, Patrice Evra told the French news station that: ‘There are cameras, you can see him (Suarez) say a certain word to me at least ten times’.

Players’ Union chief, Gordon Tayor, acted as mediator during the whole process, as Evra and Suarez went to trial over Evra’s claims against Suarez. To cut a long story short, Luis Suarez was found guilty after the evidence proved substantial enough to ban the Uruguayan for eight matches and fine Suarez £40,000, which, if found guilty of racism, is a very fair punishment. Liverpool denied themselves the opportunity to contest the verdict, much to the confusion of everybody after Kenny Dalglish had supported Luis Suarez so strongly in the media.

In Suarez’s second match back after his eight match ban, he was set to face Manchester United at Old Trafford in what promised to be a cauldron of hate and bile, all directed at Suarez. With such attention being focused on the game, Police out in great numbers to counter any trouble on the day and emotions clearly running at a premium for all players involved, it was pivotal that the relationship between Suarez and Evra was played down, which meant shaking hands before the game with no trouble.

In a move that must have had PR official ands Police around the ground shaking their head’s in total disbelief, Suarez refused to accept Evra’s handshake, leading to an aggravated reaction from Evra, who proceded to grab Suarez by his forearm, clearly outraged at being snubbed by Suarez. In turn, Rio Ferdinand refused to shake Suarez’s hand, a petty move with nothing really made of it, but the damage had been done just seconds before. Suarez’s refusal to shake Evra’s hand had lit fireworks within Evra’s emotions. Having been found guilty and served his punishment, this was a chance for Suarez to bury everything that had happened, but no, Suarez aggravated a crowd of nearly 75,000.

In that moment, Suarez had sent Evra into a frenzy and within minutes, Suarez found himself in space. In Rio Ferdinand’s zone of the field, Ferdinand stepped up to challenge Suarez and deny him time to work with the ball. Patrice Evra, a left-back, came nearly twenty yards out of position to confront Suarez in a challenge. Normally, you wouldn’t see Evra make the decision, as if Glen Johnson had gambled and pushed further forward, Suarez could have poked a ball into the area vacated by Evra, presenting Johnson with a fantastic opportunity to punish Manchester United. Although that wasn’t the case, it showed that Evra wasn’t thinking straight, he was, at this point, incapable of making the right decision and as a result of this, Ferdinand, who had got in front of Suarez, was caught in a sandwich between the Uruguayan and Evra, sending Ferdinand up in the air, thus landing on his air. Ferdinand could have broken his neck and this chain of events had stemmed from Suarez’s refusal to shake hands.

Would Evra normally rush into such a challenge, miles away from where he should be? No. If the two had shook hands, you have to say that the afternoon would have been defused, but this was not the case and that challenge was just one of a chain of events to take place.

Late in the first half, Suarez found himself in space, having drifted past Evra with ease (who for some reason, had vacated left-back and was occupying a position on the right side of midfield, a clear sign the Frenchman had vacated his normal professionalism) and having also gone past Ferdinand, was about to bare down on goal, when Ferdinand extended his right leg to take the ball away from Suarez. Suarez went down as a result of the challenge and went apoplectic at the decision not to whistle for a foul.

Now clearly aggravated, Dalglish left his seat to stand in his techincal area, pleading with his star striker to calm down. On the half time whistle, Suarez was in possession of the ball and clearly still angry from Ferdinand’s challenge, (which by the way, was a very good tackle) Suarez booted the ball into the advertising hoardings, leading to confrontations between Liverpool and United players on the pitch, which reportedly carried on into the tunnel.

In the second half, Manchester United took a two goal lead early on courtesy of a Wayne Rooney brace and despite those two goals, the game had been going at a snail’s pace, with the game played at walking pace for much of the ninety minutes. Were the players of both teams aware of the provocative nature of this particular match? You got the impression both sides wanted this done and dusted with, without any drama, such was the way it was being played. Liverpool in particular never looked capable of scoring, until an indirect free kick hit Ferdinand in the six yard box and fell to Suez, who wan’t going to miss, making it 2-1 to Manchester United with only ten minutes left.

Despite having scored, Liverpool still couldn’t push on for an equaliser and to be honest, I never expected them to. Manchester United looked very organised and Liverpool seemed very flat. As I mentioned previously, it seemed as if everybody wanted the game over, not wanting any more controversy to dominate their lives.

At the final whistle, with Manchester United having emerged 2-1 winners, controversy reared its ugly head once more. Patrice Evra, who had performed very well in the second half, having obviously been told to calm down at half time, erupted into raw emotion at United’s win, gesticulating to the United crowd his joy at winning and in a highly idiotic act, Evra opted to celebrate widly in front of the Stretford End, following Luis Suarez as he walked to the tunnel. In this action, the tables were turned and it was Evra acting the villain in the eyes of the watching millions and Suarez the ‘hero’ as he ignored Evra’s celebrations in a very dignified manner and for that, Suarez does deserve a little credit, despite not having exactly showered himself in glory throughout the afternoon.

Evra wasn’t allowed to celebrate for too long before Phil Down and his assistants stepped in to put a halt to Evra’s celebrations. Players from both teams started to step in, sparking ugly scenes when what was needed, was a quiet exit into the dressing room. Rafael and Danny Welbeck must also be mentioned for their provocative behaviour, also gesticulating toward the United crowd. They, nor Evra should have done that, it was inflammatory and they should not have been doing that just moments before the thousands of fans left to walk the streets home.

Trying to draw consequences from an afternoon consisting of high emotion is always hard. Fans of neither Liverpool or Manchester United are going to have an easy time justfying the actions of their players. Can Liverpool fans justify a reason as to why Luis Suarez didn’t shake Evra’s hand? No, as Suarez lit the torch paper when a handshake was needed, you can’t say Suarez was ‘right’ for doing what he did. As for Manchester United fans, well I understand why Patrice Evra started celebrating wildly in front of Suarez; Evra had been built up to a point of frenzy by what had preceded that moment, so I do understand why he did it, but that doesn’t go any lengths of justifying what Evra did. Evra’s actions were inflammatory and provocative, making a complete mockery of the care undergone by both parties to try and play down the situation.

For the most part of yesterday, both teams behaved impeccably and I was most impressed with Jay Spearing. The 23 year old has had to bide his time to make a mark on Liverpool’s first team and Spearing showed just why he’s worth a starting place in Dalglish’s first XI with a performancy belying his years. Spearing handled the occassion with great maturity and though he was at fault for United’s scond goal, these things happen throughout a player’s career and yesterday, that small moment aside, Spearing was very impressive. For Manchester United, Jonny Evans was immense, showing a great technique when on the ball, something I didn’t know he had within him. I prefer brains over brawn when it comes to defending, so it’s always a pleasure to see a central defender capable of making clever passes when under pressure and Evans was a delight to watch yesterday.

That I’ve had to type 1540 words before mentioning the quality performances of other players is a massive shame and indicative of an afternoon dominated by the actions of other players.

To put an end to a row which can now only escalate, a summit has to be held between both Liverpool and Manchester United, with Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra present. We can’t allow the English game to be dominated by something so ugly as racism, this is the 21st century, we’re not neanderthals and we should know better.

Neither Luiz Suarez or Patrice Evra left yesterday’s match with a shred of respect, both acted irresponsibly when it was calm that was needed.

Hopefully the next time these two great clubs play, we’re talking purely about the football.