'Suarez has mental edge'

The 24-year-old was voted fans' man of the match against Wolves on Saturday for the fifth time in eight games during 2011-12.

Clarke does not believe our No.7 will get carried away with the plaudits - claiming he has the mentality needed to stay at the top for a long time.

"With any top player the mentality is always that bit stronger," the first-team coach told Liverpoolfc.tv. "That's what separates them.

"There are a lot of good players at this level and the really, really top ones have got that mental edge that drives them on all the time and produces the kind of performances that we've had from Luis so far."

Suarez scored his fourth goal of the season on Saturday, adding to the four he claimed last term.

The striker has shown no signs of struggle in his adaptation from Dutch football, where he tallied 111 goals during 159 games.

All this after leaving his family - including six siblings - in South America at the age of 19.

Despite his rapid rise to prominence, Suarez is not your archetypal superstar according to Clarke.

"He's very grounded," said the coach, who was Kenny Dalglish's first appointment upon returning to Anfield in the New Year.

"He comes back in on Monday morning and works as hard as ever in training, he upsets all the defenders, scores a couple of goals and that's what he's all about.

Video: Clarke on Suarez, Gerrard and Wolves

"He trains like he plays - absolutely, every day. He loves to be playing football and that's a great thing."

The form of Suarez has helped Liverpool record five victories from eight games so far this season - though with two defeats and a draw also on our results card, Clarke is cautious with his verdict.

"Without getting too carried away or too disappointed it's probably just an average start," he said.

"You're probably looking at about a seven out of 10. Some pleasing performances and some not so pleasing, but you'd expect that from a group of players where you've made so many changes and you're trying to bed a few things down."

Liverpool stand fifth in the league behind Newcastle, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United.

Our two Manchester rivals have set the early pace but Clarke thinks it is too soon to talk about title favourites.

"They are certainly two of the teams to beat, they've both been very impressive, but I remember at this stage last season Chelsea had started like a house on fire," he said.

"As the season goes on things change, circumstances change. With some bad results some confidence can go. There's a long way to go and there are a few teams sitting behind them who'll be thinking they can catch them."

Meanwhile, Liverpool's cause has been aided by the return of talisman Steven Gerrard after six months on the sidelines with a groin problem.

The skipper followed 15 minutes against Brighton with another 10 against Wolves.

Clarke added: "Steven himself will dictate the pace of his comeback with how he progresses in training. We're delighted with the stage he's at, we're delighted with everything he's done for us.

"It was one of those games on Saturday where towards the end you're looking to make a change but you don't want to make it and disrupt your team because we had decent control of the game. We could maybe have got Steven on a little bit earlier but it didn't work out that way.

"We've got a full week now and we can use him well in training."