Of how much I’ve seen football and read about it (I’m sure it’s a lot less than enough) I’ve learnt one thing. To bring success to a club, you need a very stubborn manager with the faith of the board and time on his hand OR an owner who’s willing to splash cash every time the transfer window starts to creak open. At Liverpool, we have learnt to go with the former.
The next few paragraphs are my opinion why Kenny Dalglish will still be a success if given the backing.
A lot of us want Rafa Benitez back. I love the man, and would love to see him back one day, but not yet. Well, a look at how Rafa started his Liverpool Managerial Career.
One thing we know about Rafa is he is stubborn. And that’s what made him a great manager. When he came in, he brought the zonal marking system. He was criticised for it left right centre by media and fans alike. They said ‘england is no place for zonal marking’. Every time Liverpool conceded a set piece, the asian pundits (the only ones I have access to) blamed zonal marking for it (Jamie Reeves did not. Fair play to him). But Rafa stuck to it. And it soon turned out to be something we grew so fond of.
Then comes the role of holding mid-fielder. Rafa brought in Sissoko and kept playing him in that play breaking role. Again, he was criticised. He was apparently ‘wasting a player’. For all I remember, Mommo only made back passes and diagonal passes. But he created that role. It was no co-incidence that Mascherano went on from a surplus in west ham utd squad to Argentina national team’s captain.
Rafa had another criticism to his name. It was playing Steven Gerrard out of position. I fairly remember a lot of sighs and grunts that England’s favourite midfielder went from right wing to left wing to at times right back. But then Rafa found the right place for him. And oh well, how it worked.
Rafa also brought in the 4-2-3-1 formation. Most of us had not heard of it. But inspite all the negative comments, even the ‘great’ Alex Ferguson used it a couple of times.
I’m pointing all this out to draw comparisons. Rafa was adamant and stubborn in his ways. He wanted things his way, he wanted the team to play football his way and he stuck to his philosophies. And that’s what Kenny is all about. Yes, he plays players out of positions, brings subs only after the 70 min mark (like Rafa did it at 60′), makes baffling substitutions (again like Rafa many a times.. I pulled my hair in frustration when Smicer came on in 2005 finals ). But Kenny is fix on his philosophies. He has known Liverpool play pass and move football during his time and he will not settle for anything else. And that kind of football takes more time than anything else.
Have a look at our arch rivals (far too tempted to go for the word enemies). It took 6 years and the faith in a strong headed stubborn man Ferguson before they got anywhere.(How I wish they hadn’t been patient)
Barcelona started their quest to pass and move football under the regime of their previous manager and are world beaters today under Mr. Pep. It did not happen overnight. We went to their home and beat them just 6 years back. And not with our strongest team.
As far as money spending is concerned, Kenny was / is trying to fix a team still hurting from the loss of Alonso and a much maligned walk out by Torres.
United’s 92 batch produced their greats. Barcelona waited patiently to develop Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and likes. They required patience.
Kenny Dalglish is a man of self belief, a man who has tasted success, a man who definitely knows what it takes to achieve it. Also, he’s a man who’s in love with our football club. Like the other managers and teams mentioned above, Kenny has his set ideas and philosophies. He has his own style of players (a big centre forward in his every title winning side) So who’s to say when these philosophies are drilled into his players, Liverpool won’t be on the rise again.
Maybe these are facts, maybe it’s my blind love for the man. But this is my 2 pence on why Mr. Kenneth Dalglish will be a success story. AGAIN.
Akshay Jajoo
@aksh_jaj245
YNWA!
Agree 100%……………..we are going to be fine with KK.
Spot on.
So relieving to read some sense and calm.
One thing no-one seems to mention is the exceptional leadership qualities he displays every time he deflects criticism from the players despite so much scrutiny.
Leadership that most football fans and journalists are simply don’t understand.
I love Kenny I really do, he loves the club and it means everything to him, however and here’s the but.. he isn’t a long term solution. The difference between fergie and all the other managers you talk about in the past is that they had a long term vision for the club, from the academy to the 1st team. Kenny is not the man to do that because whatever we all think we all agree he is not going to be managing the club past his two year contract.
Someone somewhere at the club is responsible and should be accountable for the bad signings, my question is who does that responsibly rest with? the carrol signing was a mistake, a very costly one. We don’t have enough creativity in midfield and both downing and Adams have proved that they are not top 4 club players.
that’s money wasted on players we won’t sell for profit and it starts the process again, why is it 5 years almost from Istanbul we are still talking about gerrard as being our only or main match winner?
We were let down badly by the last owners and we have made hardly any progress in the last 5 years other than commercially and I believe if we’re going to allow a few more years of progression and mistake mediocrity we should do it with a manager who can build with a plan of 5 years plus, and for that reason alone Kenny is not the man to do it.
When Jon Flanagan foolishly lost possession and committed a foul earning him a yellow, followed by a verbal warning for the following tackle to which Captain Skrtel was called to witness, Kenny Dalglish and Co, through experience, should have realized IMMEDIATELY that the young man was not coping with the situation and that he was a liability. Lack of quick thinking saw the lad continue in his calamity of errors which lead a horrendous backpass, the subsequent penalty and the dismissal of Doni (which leaves us with Brad Jones in goal for Saturday’s FA semi) and the team in 10 men for over a hour’s play! Need I add more? Because I would have a thing or to to add if any of you guys want me to elaborate!
This doesn’t make much sense. You’ve not referenced anything about Dalglish’s ability – just spoken about other successful managers, and aligned Kenny among them with no link whatsoever.
If all it took to be a successful manager was stubbornness and a love for the club to be successful than any fan would make a good manager.
You make some good points but I just don’t see it working out with Dalglish. Football has changed since he was last a successful manager. Under Benitez we were at the forefront of modern tactics but with Dalglish I feel we’re heading in the wrong direction.
I love Kenny I really do, he loves the club and it means everything to him, however and here’s the but.. he isn’t a long term solution. The difference between fergie and all the other managers you talk about in the past is that they had a long term vision for the club, from the academy to the 1st team. Kenny is not the man to do that because whatever we all think we all agree he is not going to be managing the club past his two year contract.
Someone somewhere at the club is responsible and should be accountable for the bad signings, my question is who does that responsibly rest with? the carrol signing was a mistake, a very costly one. We don’t have enough creativity in midfield and both downing and Adams have proved that they are not top 4 club players.
that’s money wasted on players we won’t sell for profit and it starts the process again, why is it 5 years almost from Istanbul we are still talking about gerrard as being our only or main match winner?
We were let down badly by the last owners and we have made hardly any progress in the last 5 years other than commercially and I believe if we’re going to allow a few more years of progression and mid table mediocrity we should do it with a manager who can build with a plan of 5 years plus, and for that reason alone Kenny is not the man to do it.
two up after fifteen minutes and injuries to first team defenders and you think he should have took the lad of.
My biggest beef with KD is that he is prone to play his favorites rather than play the best that he has…..with a bit of luck he will now realise that Maxi has to be played with Sterling on one side, Bellamy on the other and THEN put Carroll in the middle….look what he did at Newcastle with two wingers and a mop up man.
The other thing that he should try to do is stop trying to be such a smart arse in front of the TV camera, stop rising to the bait put before him to say stupid stuff, and finally… Stop defending your players when you know that they are playing bad ,being lazy …need more conditioning and need time in the reserves to bring them back the reality that it is an honour to play for this club and not a right due to the amount of money the club has paid to get them here.
Good article, I just disagree on one point and that is Andy Carroll. Kenny’s stubbornness doesn’t help the team when it comes to him whereas it might down the line with other players. Andy is the antithesis of the pass and move style we are trying to play. He can’t pass or move. The team generally moves backwards when he is the focal point and there is almost no movement inside the box and no creativity if Suarez isn’t playing. As I’ve been reading various blogs and news articles like I often do after games I see comment after comment where people just look at the goal he scored and say he played an amazing game. Yes he scored a nice winner but for 92 minutes prior he had an appalling game. Couldn’t move, heavy first touches, an abundance of back passes without even considering going forward, and as always losing headers against smaller players. Not to mention how he almost headed in the game winner for Blackburn. Thankfully Jones made the best save he made all day on it. Back to Kenny though.. If he was stubborn with Maxi we could very well be competing for the top 4 right now. He finishes goals and is the perfect complement for Suarez in attack. He’s the perfect pass and move player and a proven goal scorer for us. Carroll has played over three times as many games in the league as Maxi this year and they have the same number of goals but Maxi is probably going to sit the rest of the season then leave in the summer. So the stubbornness can be both good and bad. I just don’t understand how you can keep the person who scored one of the best goals in World Cup history and had two hat tricks in three games last year on the bench. He is good enough to play alongside players like Messi, Tevez, Mascherano, Lavezzi, and Aguero for ARGENTINA, but can’t beat out Downing, Henderson, and now Shelvey for a spot in Liverpool’s 11.
I agree, Maxi must be played to have any chance of a result on Saturday.
If Sterling is not given a fair chance soon he will be looking for a team that will.
Get rid of the dead weight while you can get a few bob for them .
Everyone insisting KD should go, must first propose a replacement. If they cannot propose anyone better, then they should accept that we have to stick with KD and support him. Personally, I would love to see Rafa back with us, but barring him I cannot think of any reasonable replacements who would be likely to do better in Kennys place.
We have just ended a miserable run of form. If we had picked up 9 more points in that run of 5 losses, 2 draws then we would be in 7th 3 points behind chelsea. Which to be honest, with our squad is not bad.
Kenny made some bad purchases its true. Other than Enrique, I think they were all poor decisions. These are mistakes that managers learn from however.
We must back Kenny while he is in charge because anything else would be counterproductive
I agree regarding Flanagan, to pull him off for anything other than the tactical sub which Kenny did, or to sub him out at the half would be a crushing blow to a young player who has been brilliant for the most part. Obviously, he was far from brilliant yesterday, but one game does not a career make. Regarding Kenny, i would hate to see him get the sack, but would not object to a new coach for next season with some better tactics…Good article though…YNWA
So showing no faith in a kid who’s trying to break into the team and subbing him saying you can’t learn from your mistakes is the right way to go?
I agree with the article whole-heartedly. It disgusts me that so many so called ‘supporters’ are forgetting what Kenny has done for our club and the wider Liverpool community.
At a time when we cannot compete financially with City,Chelsea and United we have invested heavily in youth in order to build over a 5 year period. What happens if we sack Kenny? we are back at square one with a new manager who will want huge amounts of cash to stamp his own mark on the club.
I remember when Liverpool supporters were unwavering in their support for our managers and players and it was no coincidence that in that time we were dominant. Strength comes through unity and real supporters stay together in bad times as well as good.
Kenny will always have my support and admiration and I firmly believe he will prove the doubters wrong. YNWA Kenny.
totally agree ! we should have kept rafa but that is too late ! we must keep kenny and give him the time he needs ! or else we are going to havs a new mamager every season forever it would be just a vicious circle ! in kenny we trust !!!
Spot on. excellent article. glad to hear there’s still a bedrock of Liverpool fans with a bit of sense.
Spot bru.
KD needs to work on his tactics though and rotate the players. If players like Maxi, Sterling and Jonjo had had more playing time this season perhaps results could have been different.