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The FA have passed judgement on Luis Suarez following Sunday's bite of Branislav Ivanovic, and they have certainly made a statement in doing so. They have decided that Suarez will miss Liverpool's next 10 games, and have issued the following statement:
Luis Suarez has been suspended for a total of ten matches after an Independent Regulatory Commission today ruled on a charge of violent conduct.
A three-person Independent Regulatory Commission today upheld The FA’s claim that a suspension of three matches was clearly insufficient and the player will serve a further seven first-team matches in addition to the standard three. The suspension begins with immediate effect.
This follows an incident with Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic in Sunday’s fixture at Anfield.
The Liverpool forward had accepted a charge of violent conduct but had denied The FA’s claim that the standard three-match sanction was insufficient for the offence.
The incident was not seen by the match officials and has therefore been retrospectively reviewed
Suarez has until midday on Friday 26 April to appeal the additional suspension, above the standard three matches.
Suarez and Liverpool seemed to believe 3-games was adequate, and Ian Ayre had the following statement on the matter:
"Both the club and player are shocked and disappointed at the severity of today's Independent Regulatory Commission decision."
"We await the written reasons tomorrow before making any further comment."
It seems likely that an appeal will be coming, but as it stands Suarez will miss the remainder of this season and the first 6 Liverpool fixtures of the 2013/14 season*. The written reasoning for the decision should be available tomorrow, so I'm sure we'll know more shortly after that reasoning is released.
*That would include Capital One Cup games
I'd have preferred a lengthier ban with an option to reduce it if Suarez sought some help, but that never seemed likely to happen. With that in mind, 10 games seems reasonable for a second biting incident, if possibly a bit on the light side. I'll call it fair if Chelsea play Liverpool during his ban, as it would somewhat help make up for the 2 points we dropped when he scored late at Anfield.