SOCCER:LUIS SUAREZ will miss the Anfield game against Newcastle United tomorrow night after the English Football Association handed down a one-match ban and a €23,900 fine for his one-fingered gesture to the crowd at Fulham this month.

The Uruguayan striker, already facing an eight-game ban subject to Liverpool appealing against the verdict of the FA’s tribunal on the Patrice Evra racial abuse case, has also been warned over his future conduct.

Liverpool, who picked up an additional FA fine of €23,900 for failing to control their players in the same Craven Cottage match, in which Jay Spearing was dismissed, have decided to accept both punishments and will not be contesting either decision.

The club admitted the charge of failing to ensure their players behaved in an orderly fashion but initially contested the financial penalty until an independent regulatory commission ruled it was applicable.

Suarez admitted the charge against him, as did the Liverpool manager, Kenny Dalglish, and sources within the club say the intention now is to move on from this relatively minor matter and await the FA commission’s detailed report into the Evra incident.

Liverpool will almost certainly appeal against the eight-match suspension once the commission’s findings have been made public.

The FA are in the process of making a detailed report available, and once Liverpool have been made aware of the exact case against their player and reasons for finding him guilty they have a further fortnight to appeal.

Suarez’s absence against Newcastle makes it more likely Andy Carroll will start against his former club, though Dalglish refused to confirm as much yesterday and insisted everyone in the first team, not just his centre-forward, needed to take responsibility for scoring more goals.

Carroll started the last game, against Blackburn, but was unable to score despite two or three decent chances in the 1-1 draw.

Dalglish has made no secret of the fact that he finds questions about Carroll’s low scoring rate and limited appearances tiresome, though he at least conceded it was a legitimate subject for discussion ahead of a game against Newcastle.

“Anyone who started the game against Blackburn has a chance of starting the next game,” the Liverpool manager said. “We haven’t picked up any more injuries and we are all in good shape. Andy is no different from anyone else, he’s got to earn the right to be picked.

“It makes no difference to me that Newcastle are our next opponents, but Andy is a Geordie lad, he’ll always be a Newcastle fan. All I can ask is that he always gives his best when he plays for us, and I think he’s done that.

“Since he came here he’s gone about his work very well. He is adapting well to the change, and fortunately for Andy we have got much greater belief in him here than others seem to have. I don’t think he’s short of self-belief, there’s no evidence for that, though there is evidence that everyone in the team is short of goals.

“If you go through the list this year from last year, everybody’s down. Maxi might be a wee bit in front, that’s all.

“We look on it as a collective job and we’ll get ourselves going. Everyone in the team is capable of scoring goals, it’s not just down to the strikers. We have never been prolific scorers at any time since I came back, but I believe we’ll get there. We’ve got a huge part of it right over the past year, we just need the finishing touches.”

Alan Pardew’s team come to Anfield with Demba Ba, one striker who has not been stuttering in front of goal this season.

Newcastle already appeared to have done better than Liverpool out of the Carroll transfer without picking up a ready-made replacement on a free, one whose goals this season have more than satisfactorily covered the loss of the player sold on the last day of the January transfer window.

“He’s scored 14 league goals this season, so with a guy like that up front I imagine Newcastle will come here trying to attack,” Dalglish said.

“Newcastle took a chance on Ba when he failed a medical at Stoke and they have been rewarded.”

Meanwhile, Newcastle midfielder Cheick Tiote has insisted he is happy on Tyneside amid speculation his club might have a big decision to make next month.

The 25-year-old Ivory Coast international has been linked with Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham in recent weeks, and Pardew is bracing himself for a bid when the transfer window opens on January 1st, having warned potential purchasers they will have to pay a lot of money to prise the former FC Twente enforcer out of his hands.

“People can say whatever they want to say about me, but I’m a professional footballer and I play for Newcastle,” said Tiote.

“I’m not thinking of leaving in January – I’m very happy playing for this club.”