Dalglish reopens Suarez debate

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish insists Luis Suarez should “never have been away” after making his return from suspension on Monday.

The Uruguay international has been out of action since Boxing Day after serving a one-match ban for a gesture made towards Fulham fans and an eight-match ban after being found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra.

But Suarez returned to play 24 minutes in the 0-0 draw against Tottenham at Anfield on Monday, and Dalglish is glad to have his player available again.

“We don’t think he should ever have been away but we are delighted to get him back,” Dalglish said. “He’s not played since December, I think it’s unfair to throw someone straight in.”

“I think everything we want to say about Luis, we’ve said. For me, Luis Suarez hasn’t got anything to prove to anybody at Liverpool Football Club.”

“I think every game he plays he’s determined to make an impact, he’s that type of person. When you see him getting on the ball you always think he’s going to do something that’s going to be beneficial to the team.”

Dalglish also admitted he was frustrated to only gain a point against Spurs but was happy with his side’s display in the match.

He said: “The performance was excellent, the result was disappointing to come away with just one point but you can’t criticise the players for the effort or quality of their performance.”

“We’re happy with the performance and I think if we’d have got a goal we’d have won the match.”

Tottenham manager was unavailable on Monday after his flight from London was cancelled following his appearance in court on tax evasion charges.

Assistant manager Kevin Bond was given sole charge of the north London outfit and said he was pleased with their gritty display.

“We’re noted this season for the manner in which we play our free-flowing football but we weren’t able to do that as much as we would have liked,” Bond said.

“I think we had a spell latterly in the first half where we kept the ball a little bit better and grew in confidence but we never really took that on so well in the second half so it was a different type of display from us today.”

“Maybe in previous times we would have been here we might not have got something from the game so we got a point tonight in a different way.”