If only we can play football on the moon

No Way To Treat A King

No Way To Treat A King

Kenny Dalglish has flown over to the States to meet Liverpool’s owners in Boston with speculation rife.

Liverpool’s owners should have cleared the air by issuing a statement to prevent the speculation surrounding Kenny’s trip over the pond.

With Liverpool’s league form so poor this season, the nation’s media is scaremongering that Dalglish could be axed.

No doubt this meeting in America is a pre-planned visit, not a showdown like the media would like it to be.

Dalglish will be given more time in charge, especially after steering Liverpool to two cup finals and bringing one trophy home to Anfield this season.

It would be ludicrous to sack Dalglish as he has brought the club some stability and has everyone pulling in the same direction.

The league form has suffered due to some bad luck in front of goal and some injuries to key players.

Gerrard was missing for the early part of the season and Lucas has been a massive loss for Kenny.

Suarez being banned was a big miss and his absence resulted in a disjointed strike force, with Suarez struggling a bit with his form on his return from his ban.

The number of new players added to the squad this season has made it difficult for the team too, as it takes time for players to gel into a new side.

Kenny just needs a couple of players and his team won’t be far away.

Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez are starting to look like a good partnership at last and this can only be promising for the new season.

Liverpool has always been a patient club with managers and the owners need to be patient again with Kenny as Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Liverpool have proved they can compete with the best, like when they beat Manchester City in the semi-final of the Carling Cup and when they beat Manchester United in the FA Cup.

They just need to get it right and find the consistency against the “lesser” clubs to improve their league position.

But to get rid of Dalglish would just cause mayhem at Liverpool with the supporters who back Dalglish, who would replace him, and the club would be unstable again, with so much insecurity once again.

So the American owners have to do the right thing and let Kenny continue his work and not get trigger happy in this situation.

The sooner Liverpool’s owners come out and issue a statement regarding Dalglish’s future, the better for all concerned, especially for the supporters, who deserve reassurance of Kenny’s future.

Luis Suarez, Javier Mascherano and Lionel Messi set for Miami game

All the Liverpool fans in South Florida should be buzzing that Luis Suarez is set to play an exhibition game at Miami’s Sunlife Stadium (home of the Dolphins) on June 23rd.

Former Red Javier Mascherano is also set to play together with Lionel Messi, Didier Drogba, Falcao, Dani Alves, Edison Cavani, Alessandro Nesta, Diego Milito and Marco Materazzi.

Tickets on sale now from Ticketmaster

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Taking stock

Now that the season is over it is time to review it and try to make some sense of what worked and what went wrong.

We have competed in three trophies this past season, we won one, finished second in another and we were a disaster in the most important one. Finishing 8th in the league is unacceptable for a club like Liverpool F.C.

We did clear a lot of dead wood last summer and reduced the wage bill, the only player we shouldn’t have lost was Raul Meireles. Meireles was promised more money by the previous regime however this current regime wasn’t able to fulfill that promise. Who do we blame for losing Meireles? Kenny? Comolli? The Owners? I quite frankly don’t know, but if someone wants to leave you risk a lot by keeping them. Let us not forget the mysterious case of Aquilani who might return to LFC after AC Milan didn’t play him enough games to automatically sign him. (the Aquilani case requires its own write up so I will not get into it now).

So what went wrong at L.F.C. last season?

First and foremost I think we can all agree that the summer signings didn’t rise to any of our expectation.

Craig Bellamy, without a doubt has been the best signing (or re-signing) from last summer however he has been limited to the number of games he can play due to the ongoing issue with his knee.

Jose Enrique has done a pretty decent job filling in a position for the ever injured Fabio Aurelio. Unfortunately Jose did show a lack of confidence especially when it came to shooting on target.

Stewart Downing, unfortunately has to be a big disappointment and I am sure he will agree himself, the guy has potential and has great skill but his confidence and self-belief keeps coming back to haunt him.

Charlie Adam was another disappointment although in his defence I was starting to see him starting to partner with Lucas pretty well before the Brazilian was injured. Charlie did miss the last few games due to an injury and we were still poor  so for sure we can’t blame him for all our disappointing games.

Jordan Henderson has shown some moments of brilliance and at age 21 the young lad has some very good years of football ahead of him. However he will have to work hard to win the Liverpool faithful.

Doni proved to be a decent stand-in for Pepe Reina who I must say had his worst season at L.F.C.

Sebastian Coates another young lad that shows promise. Not many games for Sebastian however he also did manage to score a beauty.

Injuries:
No one can argue that we have missed Lucas Leiva, things were on the up before he got injured. Stevie G. has been terribly missed again, unfortunately it seems that we will not get the old Stevie we knew so he will have to adapt to playing in a different role than he used to.

The Suarez/Evra case:
We got Fergied with this one. I am afraid Taggart really got us here, the whole event was not only a big distraction but we lost Luis Suarez for eight games.

Woodwork & missed penalties:
All our top penalty takers (including Stevie G) missed penalties last season and of course we can’t forget the woodwork, 33 times if I am not mistaken. Yes, we were unlucky however more focus, better confidence and more training would have turned these into goals.

Maxi and Kuyt not playing
Of course the criticism I have also heard has been the case of Maxi and Kuyt. I must admit I would have loved to see both of them play more games last season but we don’t know what happened at Melwood.

My verdict :
So how did Kenny suddenly become a “bad manager” after lifting us up from the doldrums in the second half of the 2010/11 season. How does one wake up one morning and suddenly lose his magic touch? This is the same man who won four league titles as a manager. Of the managers still active only Alex Ferguson has won more top English division titles than Kenny, so how is Kenny that bad?

Yes we have a couple of signings that aren’t exactly stellar but so did Rafa in his first season at LFC, remember Josemi & Nunez? We have paid a lot of money for the players signed by Kenny but in my opinion I don’t think it was Kenny’s fault we got them for that price. My feeling is that Comolli was the one negotiating the prices and that is why he probably got fired.

As far as all the games are concerned it was sure a mixed bag; we lost to Bolton & Swansea, we lost to Fulham and WBA at home,  we got hammered by Spurs (4-0)  yet we hammered Chelsea (4-1). We beat Manchester City and United in the cups, we even beat Arsenal early in the season. We finished below Everton in the league table yet we beat them three times. The games we have played sure can prove one thing, we can beat anyone but we can also lose to anyone.

On the bright side we have seen young Raheem Sterling make his debut for the first team and I do agree with Kenny’s approach to him on this. Raheem can’t be thrown out to the wolves, he needs to be given time to ease into the first team. Like Raheem we have a few other stars in the Academy so yes the future still looks bright.

And YES Kenny should (and must) be given at least another season to prove that is still the right man to lead us forward.

Y.N.W.A.
-Antoine

On Twitter @empireofthekop 

Reality check: has Kenny had enough time?

From comments read on this website, there is quite a divided thought on whether Kenny has been given enough time or not to deliver. After 18 months on the job and bringing in 8 first team and presumably established new faces through substantial investment, we have reaped a Carling Cup triumph, an FA Cup final heartache, entry back into European football through the back door, and in the same lapse of time, we have gone from 6th with 58 points in 2010/11, to 8th with 52 points (avoiding 9th only because we have a better goal average than Fulham) in 2011/12.

Dwelling on statistics a little longer and going back a little further, and just to make sure we get our facts right, we need to look at the final standings of the Reds in the last three seasons to have a grasp of whether we have progressed or not:

2009/2010 – W18/D09/L11 – F61/A35 = +26 – Points 63 (7th)
2010/2011 – W17/D07/L14 – F59/A44 = +15 – Points 58 (6th)
2011/2012 – W14/D10/L14 – F47/A40 = +07 – Points 52 (8th)

In the face of the above stats, we have to come to terms with reality in that in the last three seasons, the last season when Rafa Benitez was in charge translates to arguably the most solid. We won more, lost less, scored more, conceded less, and the final points tally was better. Unfair comparisons one could say, but these are the facts, and I am prone to say that we now seem to have been better when we were worse.

Now from facts to emotions! Many Reds, me included, will never want Kenny to be shown the door. Pragmatically, I’d prefer Kenny to walk away from the hot seat if it came to that, but with him visiting the owners in the US this week I reckon we will soon know where we stand as far as his confirmation at the helm is concerned. I am prone to think that Fenway will give him another season, because even though they are evidently not happy (having removed three top position execs) with some of the people that have been calling the shots, they know that Kenny is loved by the fan-base and Fenway will avoid disappointing the fans because they know what fans are what make a Club strong.

The phrases ‘we are still a works in progress’, or ‘give him time’ and ‘go support Chelski’ have a tendency to irk my rationale and this is where I start making mind boggling comparisons. From a personal standpoint these phrases only attempt to atone the discontent but a real football fan with his head on his shoulders and not buried in his ass is honest enough to figure out that a ‘works in progress’ means moving forward. Essentially and objectively, we have not moved forward!

Now I will go for a long shot attempt at making a direct comparison between two European greats: Liverpool and Juventus. Both finished 7th last season, both were out of European football and both were in a search for direction. Both Clubs needed to pick themselves up and while the Reds seem to have slipped a notch or two; Juventus have been superb, winning the Scudetto with a 38 unbeaten cavalcade and are in line to win the Coppa Italia next weekend (final with AC Napoli). They brought in Antonio Conte (who played 419 games for the bianconeri between 1991 and 2004 scoring 44 goals from midfield – nowhere near the legendary status of our King, but still a Juventus great), and he transformed them! Now this could be down to luck, it could be that the other Serie A greats fell short of expectations, but the job done in 12 months cannot most certainly be called a ‘works in progress!’ It is definitely ‘mission accomplished’. By the way, they are back in Champions League football again, with flying colours and not through the back door!

My personal standpoint is that bar a few exceptions, the players brought in with Kenny’s consensus (lest we forget) have either not delivered, been deployed badly or ultimately do not have the quality to deliver what Liverpool Football Club requires them to. I am also of the opinion that we are technically and tactically lacking (frankly inferior) and my take is that this will not change with the classic and simple wave of the magic wand. It may require a crack of the whip but without us being tactically and technically sound, innovative and progressive; we are not going to get anywhere! Question is, what can we objectively see changing if Kenny is in effect given more time?

The Scottish Connection

The Scottish Connection

Over the years, Liverpool has had many players from many countries, especially in recent years, with so many foreigners coming to play football in England. But has there been a country that has produced more influential players in the history of Liverpool Football Club than Scotland ?

Being a native Scot I am extremely proud of this fact. I remember when I was young and my dad would let me stay up late to watch Match Of The Day on a Saturday night, with the days’ football highlights, he would ask me to count how many Scots were in each team, because he would tell me that the team with the most Scottish players would win, and it seemed to me at the time that his theory was always right.

I have to point out that this was in the late seventies to early eighties, when there was an abundance of Scots playing in the first division in England. Unfortunately nowadays there is not so many. But when I was growing up supporting Liverpool the number of Scots in the team provided a massive reason why I started supporting them.

But throughout the history of Liverpool Football Club there have been many Scots that have played a massive part in shaping the club that we know today. Liverpool’s squad was mostly made up of Scots in their very first season and that has set a pattern throughout the history of the club. In fact in Liverpool’s eighteen title winning seasons, there has always been a Scot in the team.

Some Scots that have played important roles in the history of Liverpool are, Andrew Hannah, Liverpool’s first ever captain.

Alan Hansen, who captained Liverpool, and won many trophies in an illustrious career.

George Allan, Liverpool’s first great goal scorer.

Matt Busby who played over one hundred matches for Liverpool, but unfortunately moved to Manchester United to become manager, where the rest is history, he gets the credit for finding the great Billy Liddell before he left.

Ned Doig, a goalkeeper who is the oldest player to have made his debut at the age of thirty-seven and three hundred and seven days. Ned also holds the record for the oldest player to play for Liverpool when he played his last game, aged forty-one years and one hundred and sixty-five days old.

Matt McQueen who played in over one hundred matches for Liverpool before becoming manager, where he won the League title despite losing his leg in a car accident.

Malcolm McVean goes down in history as the man who scored Liverpool’s first ever League goal.

Alex Raisbeck played over ten years with Liverpool and captained the team to their first two titles. An early legend.

Tommy Lawrence, Shankly’s goalkeeper, played three hundred and ninety games for Liverpool and played a major role in the Shankly era.

Billy Liddell, arguably Liverpool’s greatest ever player, he played five hundred and thirty-four matches and scored two hundred and twenty-eight goals for Liverpool. He only won one league title in his career as he played at a time when Liverpool had a struggling team, but his tremendous play nicknamed the team “Liddellpool”.

Gary McAllister only came to Liverpool when he was thirty-five, but he played a major part in Liverpool’s treble winning season of two thousand and one.

Kenny Dalglish, in my opinion, the greatest Liverpool player of all time, although, Steven Gerrard is catching up. Dalglish played over five hundred games and scored one hundred and seventy-two goals for Liverpool. He also holds the record number of caps for Scotland with one hundred and two and is joint equal record goal scorer with thirty alongside Dennis Law. Dalglish won everything as a player and after the tragedy at Heysel he became player manager of the club, and won the double in his first season. Dalglish is best remembered for the role he played throughout the aftermath of the Hillsborough tragedy. Dalglish is adding to his legendary status by returning for a second spell as manager.

Ian St John was one of Shankly’s first signings and played a major part in Liverpool’s resurgence in the sixties under the leadership of Shankly. He played over four hundred goals and scored over one hundred goals for Liverpool.

Ron Yeats was another of Shankly’s early signings, Yeats was Shankly’s captain and captained Liverpool to their first ever FA Cup win. Yeats played for ten years with Liverpool and played over four hundred games for the club and like St John was a major influence in the success during Shankly’s reign.

Graeme Souness is regarded as one of Liverpool’s greatest players. A brilliant midfielder who could dominate games with his passing and his tackling. He later became captain and led Liverpool to another European Cup win in Rome in nineteen eighty-four in his last match for the club. Souness later became manager of the club in the nineties, but never had as much success, although he did manage Liverpool to an FA Cup success.

Bill Shankly is the greatest manager the club has known. Liverpool was a sleeping giant when he took over. The club were in the second division and Anfield was falling apart. But this man transformed the whole club, the stadium and most importantly the team. He might not be the most successful manager in the club’s history, but he placed the foundations for future success.

There are many more Scots that have played a part in the fabric of Liverpool’s history, in fact there has been one hundred and fifty-five players in the history of Liverpool Football Club and I’m sure there will be many more. At the moment we have young Danny Wilson and Charlie Adam who is playing regularly for the first team. So there are encouraging signs as we only win the league with a Scot in the team, so hopefully we are nearing our nineteenth title.