Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers says that the club will punish Luis Suarez, after the striker admitted to diving to try and win a penalty against Stoke earlier this season.
Rodgers says he has already spoken to Suarez about his uncommonly frank admission of guilt, and that the Uruguay international will accept his punishment.
Suarez courts controversy like no other player in the Premier League, and it is debatable as to whether his honesty has served him well or not in this case.
He is the player Premier League fans most love to hate, and by admitting that he dived, he has polarised opinion yet further. Half the league can only doff its hat to his honesty, while the other half sees it as proof that Suarez is a cheat.
As far as Rodgers and Liverpool are concerned, diving is “unacceptable”, hence the censure Suarez will face.
"I've seen the comments and I think it is wrong. Certainly from our perspective it is unacceptable. It is not something we advocate here. Our ethics are correct,” Rodgers said, regarding Suarez’s diving admission.
"I've spoken to Luis and he is totally understanding, and knows where I'm coming from as manager of the club. This is a big club and whatever people do say goes around the world, and what was said was wrong and not acceptable - he takes that and we move on. There is no one bigger than the club or the club's image.
"The comments, from our point of view as a club, are not what we would want to hear. This is something which was obviously wrong and is not something we associate with as a club of this standing."
"You normally find players, when their careers are finished, admit to all these kind of things – he just happened to be honest in the middle of his career," Rodgers added, before insisting that Suarez is still of great value to Liverpool’s squad, despite his controversial headline making.
"He is tough-minded and, irrespective of what is out there, media-wise he gets on with his job. On the football side there are no complaints. I work with Luis every day so I know the character he is. I know he is a good man who wants to do the best for the club," the Reds boss said.
