An emotionally heavy week gradually winds to a close, with many of the major storylines (hopefully) having some sort of resolution on the horizon. In the wake of Saturday's draw with United it was the allegations of racism against Luis Suarez, and Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday it was the proceedings in Parliament regarding Hillsborough and the reactions on all sides. Needless to say, it's going to be a welcomed change on pace on Saturday when the actual football takes place. We're not there quite yet, but it's almost within reach.
* The club's position on the Patrice Evra-Luis Suarez ordeal was articulated earlier in the week, and the Uruguayan spoke out on his Facebook in complete denial of the claims. Today Kenny Dalglish again emphasized where the club stands on the matter, and it really shouldn't be surprising that Suarez has total backing:
''The only thing I will say - and then it is put to bed - is that the football club and everyone at the football club is totally and utterly fully behind Luis Suarez. There was an allegation after the game about him diving all over the place and there was an allegation from Patrice Evra. Obviously the two things are emotive but we support the wee man on both things. At the start of the week the club made their position known and apart from what I have said we won't be adding to it. We are fully looking forward to a complete, transparent report from the FA and we will co-operate 100 per cent.''
The "diving all over the place" comment comes from Alex Ferguson's post-match comments, which understandably received less ink than the concerns about racist comments. There's not much else to say on that issue other than the fact that most of us know Suarez goes to ground a bit too easily at times, and he's been known to maximize his reactions, but for anyone to comment on someone from another club going to ground, especially at United, is a farce. Manage your own shop in that regard and then run your mouth.
In terms of the accusations of racism, it'd be great if it was put to bed, but the reality is that, as others have mentioned, this thing is going to chase both players for awhile. Already we're seeing the potential for Suarez to "escape" any charges if Patrice Evra can't prove it, which implies that there's something for the Liverpool forward to be ducking. Right now there's no tidy outcome; barring any sort of concrete proof that Suarez actually did say something, it's just going to be messy and distracting.
* Liverpool's got a host of players away on loan at the current moment---Alberto Aquilani's in Milan, Joe Cole's in Lille, Jonjo Shelvey's at Blackpool---and they added/extended deals today for a few younger players. David Amoo, who was seen briefly in last season's Europa League, headed to League One side Bury towards the end of September, and since that time he's made four appearances and found the net away to Yeovil Town in a winning effort. Today the clubs extended the loan for the winger through the holiday season, which means more chances for a player that would otherwise find himself firmly planted in the reserves and out of the running for the NextGen Series.
Another young forward that'll be spending time elsewhere is Nathan Eccleston, who's on his way to Rochdale until the end of November. Like Amoo, Eccleston got some time in the Europa League, but hasn't found a way to break through and have any sort of consistent opportunities at first-team football. Unlike Amoo, Eccleston cuts an annoying figure on Twitter and found himself in hot water after his September 11th comments last month. I wasn't as irked about that as I was his general overestimation of his own ability, which came off as arrogant and entitled for a player who's seemingly well behind the club's other youngsters in terms of long-term prospects.
* Today's also brought the weekly fitness update, and for the first time in recorded history, there's no mention of Fabio Aurelio. Okay, there is, but it's more of a positive sidenote than a confirmation of yet another injury. The worry with the Rangers friendly was always that it would bring about a fresh round of injury concerns, and save for Doni (whose mangled finger can be seen at 1:26 here), they came away unscathed. Jack Robinson's apparently picked up a sprain as well, which goes to explain his omission from both the friendly at Ibrox and the reserve squad's 3-2 loss against Newcastle that same night. With those two never likely to play a role on Saturday, that leaves Lucas as the only expected absence and Liverpool without any excuses fitness-wise in a match they're expected to dominate.
That's it for the day's events, and I'll be back first thing tomorrow with a bit more ahead of the preview for Norwich City's late afternoon visit to Anfield on Saturday. In the meantime, you can consider how one diving save could have ended much, much worse for Liverpool's back-up goalkeeper: