Luis Suárez deceived far more than Rafael da Silva, Michael Carrick and Wes Brown at Anfield on Sunday. He may have left the Manchester United trio floundering in the creation of Liverpool's opening goal and orchestrated an emphatic triumph to an extent that eclipsed a hat-trick from Dirk Kuyt but the Uruguay international has asked Liverpool supporters for patience as he struggles to adapt to the Premier League.
In terms of fanfare Suárez effectively sneaked into Liverpool because of the £50m exit of Fernando Torres and £35m entrance of Andy Carroll on the same, manic transfer deadline day. The £22.8m capture from Ajax has since reclaimed the spotlight and captivated Anfield in the same No7 shirt once worn by Kenny Dalglish. Yet, having been limited to only three starts for Liverpool by his ineligibility for the Europa League, and collected a seven-match ban for biting an opponent prior to his arrival, the 24-year-old believes it will be some time before he performs in peak condition. Not that anyone is complaining so far.
"It is great for a new player, someone who has played only three games since coming to Liverpool, to have the support of the public like I did against United. It was fantastic," said Suárez, who now returns to the sidelines for Liverpool's next two fixtures, against Braga in the last 16 of the Europa League.
"It is very difficult for me to play one week and then have to wait two weeks for the next chance to play. I am playing one game, and then there is not another game I can play in for a long time, and so it is hard for me to get to the right level physically. But I am training very well, so that when the chance comes to play again I am ready when the team needs me. I think it will take some time before the fans can see the best of me. That is what I am working towards every day, to doing my best for the fans, but I am not the most important thing. The most important thing is that we beat United and that we keep on getting three points."
Suárez's selflessness was glaring against United and extended to congratulating Kuyt on his first tap-in when, having danced around Rafael, Carrick and Brown and seen his final touch deflected goalwards by Patrice Evra, he could have registered a sublime individual effort. "It is not important who scored it. It is just important that it went in," said Suárez, right – not a reaction you would expect from Cristiano Ronaldo.
Kuyt, surely the first Liverpool player to claim the match ball against United but not the man-of-the-match awards, confirmed: "Luis said it didn't matter, it's a goal and he was happy to create it. I wasn't sure if somebody was behind me or not, so I had to make sure."
The Dutch international added: "Luis's influence since he has arrived is really good. He scored on his first game, he was very close to scoring against Wigan, he created a goal against West Ham for Johnno [Glen Johnson], and against United he was important. It's impossible to be at your best when you've only been at a club for a couple of weeks. But I think he can show he can be a great player for Liverpool and I think there is a lot more to come from him."
The impact of Suárez, the return of Carroll and the contribution of Kuyt since being restored to the frontline by Dalglish has transformed Liverpool's options up front when, less than two months ago, they were overly reliant on the fluctuating form of Torres. "The future looks promising for Liverpool. The manager has a lot of options up front now, and I even think he can play with all three of us up there," said Kuyt.
"The owners have already shown with the impression they have made by buying Luis Suárez and Andy Carroll that they want to do things in a positive way. We need to keep going like this. The first thing the manager told us when he arrived is that we have a lot of quality, and hopefully with the players that have come in January and the new players that will come in the summer, we can compete."