• Premier League

Suarez committed to Liverpool

ESPN staff
September 26, 2013
Luis Suarez returned to action after his lengthy ban © Getty Images
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Liverpool striker Luis Suarez has insisted he will "try his best" for as long as he is at the club, after making his return to the Reds' starting line-up in the Capital One Cup defeat at Manchester United on Wednesday night.

The Uruguay striker took to the field for the first time since his infamous bite on Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic back in April, with the 10-match ban he was handed for his bizarre actions now over.

Suarez played the full game and showed flashes of brilliance in a 1-0 defeat for his side, with his commitment to the Liverpool cause seemingly as evident as ever despite spending much of his summer trying to engineer a move away from the club.

Now Suarez has insisted he is determined to give his all to Liverpool, as he expressed his disappointment at his side's exit from the Cup.

"All the time I try my best on the pitch. I'm here to help the team and help Liverpool and I'll try my best," Suarez told Liverpool TV. "I'm back because I can help the team and [being] off the pitch I can't. We'll keep going for the week and for the next game. The result is not good because we lost but the feeling is good because we played very well, we created chances and we missed."

Suarez earned praise from manager Brendan Rodgers, but the Northern Irishman has called on his Liverpool players to show greater mental strength and determination at set-pieces after they conceded from a corner for the second time in four days.

Liverpool suffered their first defeat of the Premier League season on Saturday when they lost 1-0 to Southampton after Daniel Agger lost Dejan Lovren at a set-piece for the only goal of the game.

And the defeat to United came after Javier Hernandez escaped from Jose Enrique in the six-yard box to finish from Wayne Rooney's corner.

"It's disappointing. It's an individual thing, not a collective one," Rodgers said. "You see a corner coming in, no one was free and then Chicharito [Hernandez] gets free far too easily. As an individual, you have got to be stronger mentally and have a greater desire not to lose your marker."

And Rodgers reflected on another game where a defensive error cost his side.

"I thought we had good spells in the game where we got into real good areas," he said. "Probably just our final pass let us down. I have no qualms about the players' effort but obviously we are disappointed a lack of concentration for the goal cost us.

Rodgers switched to a 3-5-2 formation for the match as he paired the returning Suarez with Daniel Sturridge in attack.

"It was something that has been forced upon us in terms of the players we have available. I thought the players played the system really well. You can see the players are comfortable in it," he added.

Rodgers has confirmed that Suarez is likely to make his Premier League comeback in Sunday's game at Sunderland.

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