There’s no reason to be concerned about how Luis Suárez is performing at Barcelona

Have you heard the news? Luis Suárez has a goal scoring problem!

Nothing is going on. There’s not a crisis. He’s still incredibly skilled. And do they even have witch doctors in Italy?

“All forwards go through these moments, for whatever reason, when it seems he is far away from scoring,” he said. “But in each game he has chances, in each game he brings us a lot of things, and we are delighted with his performance.”

Pretty standard answer. In fact, it sounds like one choice in Football Manager, when the press asks you about a struggling striker.

“We are worried about winning the game, not who scores the goals. We are happy with all Luis brings us, and what he will bring in the future. He is perfectly adapted and integrated into the day to day of the team. There is no aspect of Suarez’s play that worries us, none at all.”

Again, pretty standard, but he’s right. Suárez is playing well, he’s contributing to the team, but he’s still integrating into the Barca system.

It doesn’t take a degree in theoretical physics -- that’s the first thing that came to mind -- to understand the difference between Liverpool Suárez and Barcelona Suárez. Just look at the players around him.

With the Reds, Suárez was the man. The focal point of the team’s attack, their number one option and the star of the side. Time after time during Liverpool’s impressive season they were saved by Suárez. He HAD to score goals.

Then there’s the little fact that he’s playing in a new system, playing a role within that system that’s very different -- both positionally and tactically -- from what he was doing under Brendan Rodgers. And let’s not forget that the defensive mentalities of La Liga clubs towards Barcelona is entirely different than what Suárez dealt with when playing at Liverpool.

The Suárez hate brigade will probably be fueled by Enrique leaving him on the bench, on his birthday, as Barca defeated Elche 6-0 on Saturday. They’ll try to say that Pedro should be starting over the Uruguayan, or similar nonsense, while ignoring the fact that Barca looked lost in the opening 35 minutes before a lucky defection allowed Gerard Piqué to give them a lead. They’ll probably ignore the fact that three of the goals were scored after Elche were a man down as well.

Some might try to say that the team is more balanced with just two of their three big stars on the pitch, but look at the results since the loss to Real Sociedad. Barca have played six games, but only four with Suárez in the lineup. They won all four of those, outscoring opponents 13-1, and two of those wins were against Atlético Madrid.

One game against a poor Elche side is not proof that Barca is better with Suárez on the bench.

But! But! Suárez has missed some fairly pedestrian chances at times! Maybe he’s lost his touch!

Whatever the case, the continued desire to bury Suárez is ridiculous. The astronomical price tag paid by Barca doesn’t help, but if you’re too blind to see the drastic differences between what Suárez was asked to do at Liverpool, and what he’s being asked to do at Barca, then perhaps I can’t help you.

Barca paid big money for a player that can score goals, can create assists (he’s got eight so far), and has a tremendous work rate. It’s not working perfectly ... yet. Two or three seasons from now, if nothing has changed, feel free to find this post and tell me how wrong I was, but I’m confident that won’t be necessary.