Rewind three years and Liverpool are launching the mother of all title challenges under Brendan Rodgers. In fact, as we all know, they would more than likely have gone all the way if it wasn’t for Steven Gerrard’s infamous slip.
The secret to the success of 2013-14? Well, a lot of the credit must be given to Luis Suarez.
Despite the absence of Champions League football and questionable title prospects, Suarez turned down Arsenal in 2013 and put in the mother of all shifts in his final season at Anfield. 31 goals in 39 games says it all.
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Ultimately, though, missing out on the Premier League title and the approach of Barcelona finally saw Suarez give in and leave.
Since then, the 30-year-old has kicked on at the Nou Camp and maintained his status as one of the world’s finest. He has a Champions League title and no less than 116 strikes to his name.
Naturally then, it begs the question, what if Suarez never left Liverpool? Would it have been second time lucky in the title race or would it be same old, same old?
Well, via the medium of FIFA 17, we can come as close as possible to answering these questions. It’s far from the perfect method of prediction but the bizarre and surprising results are undoubtedly entertaining.
FIFA 17 experiment
To try and see what would happen if Suarez had turned down Barcelona, FIFA YouTuber ‘Fyuh’ made a very special career mode on the game. He, of course, ensured Suarez started the season in the Liverpool squad.
The season, despite the addition of Suarez, didn’t start well at all, though.
Liverpool suffered a painful 3-0 defeat to Arsenal on the opening weekend before recovering with a 2-1 win at Burnley. Suarez, of course, was given the nod in both games but failed to find the net.
The Uruguayan did score in his third game however, the only catch being that it was against Hartlepool United. A 1-1 draw with Tottenham followed and the season was simulated from there on in.
The video can be seen below:
With Liverpool eighth in January and Suarez still underperforming, the gamer even tried to help the team by signing Samir Handanovic and Marcelo. It did little to alter the fortunes of Suarez, though.
In the end, the Reds finished fourth in the table behind league winners Manchester United, Everton (yes, you read that right) and Arsenal.
There can certainly be no qualms with a finish in the top four.
Moreover, there was a Liverpool player taking home the Golden Boot, but it wasn’t Suarez. Philippe Coutinho led the way with 22 goals, eclipsing the tallies of Willian and Anthony Martial.
As for Suarez, he was only favoured over Sadio Mane on 19 occasions and he found the net just three times all season. In fact, his rating of 92 even fell to 91.
Pinch of salt
Ok, so it’s important to take these results with a pinch of salt, of course.
Liverpool’s squad is nowhere near the quality of Barcelona’s, but it’s highly doubtful that a change in squad would see his goal tally plummet by 29. Bear in mind that it’s not even the end of the season, too.
Moreover, Ronaldo Koeman narrowly missing out on the title in his first season with Everton and Coutinho taking the Golden Boot from midfield are questionably realistic.
That being said, Leicester City did win the Premier League title last season so anything can happen.
We will never know what would have happened had Suarez decided to stay and unfortunately our closest way of finding out has proven somewhat unreliable. With all due respect EA, it’s hard to see Scott Dann outscoring Mr. Suarez.
How do you think Liverpool would have fared if Suarez stayed? Have YOUR say in the comment box below