Moyes Convinced Suarez Ruining Game by Conning Referees

My feelings on David Moyes fall somewhere in the ambivalent to don't hate too much range, mostly due to the fact that he's managed to do a decent job with Everton on a consistent basis despite what seems like a fairly limited amount of resources. There's a somewhat predictable--at least over the past few seasons--drop-off in the second-half of the season, but, as we've seen this year, they've been able to impress in the early going.

Last season was a bit of a mixed bag ahead of the first Merseyside derby, and the fallout from that one has apparently lingered to the lead-in to tomorrow's date at Goodison. As many will remember, Jack Rodwell was sent off for a challenge on Luis Suarez, one that was barely deserving of a yellow card, and Liverpool eventually wore their hosts down and came away with a 2-0 victory on as Suarez killed the match off after an Andy Carroll goal had given Liverpool the lead.

The sting from the Rodwell red card hasn't yet gone away for Moyes or Everton, and given the circumstances I suppose it's understandable. Shit decision, Suarez vamped it up, they dropped three points at home, and Liverpool went on to absolutely steamroll them at Anfield before coming back from a one-goal deficit at Wembley to defeat their neighbors a third time on the season and advance to the FA Cup Final against Chelsea. So yeah, a couple of reasons to maybe be not so happy.

But that doesn't necessarily excuse Moyes' engagement the latest act in one of the more tired motifs in English football, yesterday commenting on how the actions of Luis Suarez will drive supporters from the game:

"I would because I think he has got history. I tell you what it will do, it will turn the supporters away from football. It is hard for the referees, it really is. But it will turn supporters away from it if they think players are conning their way to results. People like to see things done correctly, in the main."

The opposition has it pretty easy when it comes to Suarez, and there's no sign of it stopping. The player doesn't help himself, certainly, and his frustrated, fatigued performance against Anzhi on Thursday night didn't elicit much sympathy in Liverpool's own supporters.

That doesn't change the fact that the continued moral high ground to which media, players, and managers continually aspire is no better than what Suarez has done--all parties are twisting something into an asset for themselves, be it in an effort to win a penalty, gain admirers, or come across as the everyman fighting for the integrity of the game. It'd be insulting if it wasn't so common, and in the end we're left to either wait it out or hope something changes, and I don't know how much anyone has invested in the latter coming to fruition.