Liverpool Escape Mansfield Town With More Suarez Controversy

Luis Suarez clearly handled the ball on his match winning goal. (AP Photo)

Luis Suarez.  Is there a more controversial player today in the Premier League?  Perhaps Mario Balotelli, but to be fair, a lot of his "issues" happen off the pitch.  As for Suarez, he put himself right back in the thick of things in an FA Cup third round tie at Mansfield Town today, clearly settling the ball with his hand before banging into an empty net for what turned out to be the match winning goal for Liverpool.

The Reds visited the non-league side at One Call Stadium, where 93 places separated the clubs on the English pyramid.  Despite the rather horrendous condition of the pitch, Liverpool were able to employ their passing game early on to control the match.  It looked like they might run away with the proceedings after Jonjo Shelvey slipped a through ball to new man Daniel Sturridge in the seventh minute.  Sturridge easily tapped  the ball by Mansfield 'keeper Alan Marriott to make it 0-1 to Liverpool.  It was his first goal in a Liverpool shirt.

After that, Mansfield Town went into survival mode and were somewhat able to stymie Liverpool's offense, largely through the efforts of Marriott.  In the 15th minute he managed smother the ball as Sturridge once again drove on goal, then got low again in a 1v1 with Shelvey in the 29th to keep the score 0-1.

Manfield finally found their feet though, and weren't about to roll over for the EPL side.  Forward Matthew Green, in particular, gave Liverpool fits for much of the match.   In the 33rd minute he came up with Mansfield's best chance of the first half, driving a shot in on goal from the edge of the penalty area and forcing a good save out of Brad Jones for Liverpool

Toward the end of the first half Liverpool really sat back and started to absorb Mansfield's pressure, resigning themselves to try to hit on the counter attack.  It almost worked in the 45h minute as Sturridge again found himself through on goal.  He drove the ball along the ground toward the outside of the far post only to be foiled by Marriott, who hit the deck at full stretch, parrying the shot away to keep it 0-1 going into halftime.

Mansfield came out like a whirlwind in the second half and immediately took the match to Liverpool, heaping the pressure on Brad Jones' goal.  In the 52nd minute Green put a ball on target that Jones was able to haul in, but not before it took a bounce off of a Liverpool player's hand.  It would not be the last controversial handball no-call of the match.  One minute later Louis Briscoe slammed a shot in from aways out, but Jones was again up to the task.

Knowing his team needed a second goal in a bad way, Brendan Rodgers subbed Luis Suarez into the game.  He made an immediate impact and caused immediate controversy.  In the 58th minute, he used chaos in the box for cover as he raised his right hand, settling the bouncing ball down to his foot.  Now having the ball under control, he tapped it into the net for the second goal, with all the Mansfield town players instantly screaming for handball.  Suarez even kissed his arm as he celebrated, but it seemed everyone in the stadium saw it except for the referee and the linesman, and the goal stood.  It really was obvious.

The "goal" really took the steam out of Mansfield, and the match devolved into a scrappy affair on both sides as the pitch continued to scar up.  However hope was restored to Mansfield fans in the 79th minute.  Colin Daniel crossed the ball into the box where Green was waiting for it.  He turned it toward the goal, where it defected off of a couple of different players and in to make it 1-2 with 11 minutes left.

Mansfield piled on the pressure in the final minutes, but was never able to get the equalizer.  They came the closest in the first minute of stoppage time when Green cranked a shot in on target, but once again Jones turned him away to preserve the full time score at 1-2 to Liverpool.

So in the end, Liverpool moves on in controversial style.  Mansfield Town acquitted itself very well though as Liverpool's second line players again failed to impress.  As for Suarez, as much as he handles the ball, he should take up goalkeeping.  You have to feel for Mansfield, who really were hard done by.