Inter Miami Has a Suárez Problem | OneFootball

Big news out of the MLS this morning:

Source: X

A Loose Cannon Muffled

Suárez has a long a troubled history of disciplinary issues. He’s received domestic and international bans for incidents involving biting opponents and more. He caused the Miami a major PR headache after spitting on a Seattle Sounders staff member after their 3 – 0 loss in the Leagues Cup final, and was given a 3 game ban by MLS for that behavior.

Until that incident Suárez’s behavior had been only slightly worse than his usual standards. Below are his card percentages received broken down by league over his career:

One could argue that as he ages and looses some of the spring in his legs, Suárez has been forced into fouling more. But let’s be honest, he’s been a loose cannon his entire career. Of course, that same competitive drive that leads to disciplinary excess also fuels his incredible scoring and assist statistics.

For any of the social media snowflakes who are claiming that the league’s Disciplinary Committee is punishing Inter Miami unfairly, I would advise them to go cry in their beer. It’s true that of the four retroactive suspensions, three of these were issued to Miami. One of those was related to Suárez’s spitting fiasco (no argument on that one), and the other involved Lionel Messi and Jodi Alba’s refusal to play in the MLS All-Star game. Those are all self-inflicted wounds.

A Crucial Cog Gone

Suárez’s suspension is a big blow to the Herons as they will face Nashville SC at home for the must-win Game 3 without the Uruguayan striker. Suárez is a critical part of Miami’s offense. Across all competitions this year he’s recorded 18 goals and 17 assists, which is 31% of all involvements. Nine of his assists (55%) were to Lionel Messi. No other starter on the Miami team approaches these numbers. More crucially, his usual replacement Yannick Bright has only managed a single goal so far this year. What Bright is good at? Getting yellow cards. He’s got eight.

To compensate for his absence, manager Javier Mascherano will probably employ a 4-4-2 formation with Messi and Tadeo Allende up front. This is in place of his favored 4-3-3 or 4-4-1-1 when Suárez is available.

In any event we’ll see on Saturday whether Suárez’s absence is ultimately a bane, or a boon.