Another game, another defeat. Playing at home against the team at the bottom of the league is not a fixture that should pose Liverpool any real problems but right now our league form is so poor I'm not sure we'd be favourites against a pub team. I'm a Liverpool supporter and it's not in my nature to be negative about my club, I look for the positives in everything Liverpool related and I realise the value of getting behind my team rather than getting on their backs. Our recent run of results just simply isn't good enough and actually had me checking the league table to make sure we'd already reached 40 points (we've got 42, phew.....). Away at Newcastle next weekend was always going to be tough but it's now impossible to predict us winning that game and almost as difficult to see where the inspiration for a victory might come from.
One win in seven league games is too far below the standards acceptable at any top division club, never mind one as successful and trophy laden as ourselves, there is something wrong with the team at the moment and it needs to be addressed quickly.
There will be many calls for the manager to step down and I'm not going to dismiss that as a possibility but I think the time for a change that drastic is not right now. We cannot qualify for the Champions League this season and we already have a Europa League place, we won't get relegated so what happens in the remainder of the league season is irrelevant. I don't mean it's unimportant, I just mean we will finish with the same reward for the season whether we win or lose all nine of our remaining fixtures. Kenny should be given the rest of the season and then a decision needs to be made. This was always going to be a transitional season with some difficult moments and we cannot underestimate the importance of having the right man in charge and in many ways there is only one person exactly right for that role, and that is the man we have in place now. After the last season under Benitez and the six months under Roy Hodgson the team was in poor shape and needed rebuilding, it wasn't going to happen overnight and whoever took on that job would need time, and who is the only man our fans would allow such time? Kenny Dalglish.
Look at the players we have. Pepe Reina, one of the best keepers in the world, Enrique, Skrtel, Agger, Kelly, that's a good back four and all of them have plenty of time ahead of them. Downing, Adam, Lucas, Henderson, all good players. Downing has quality and is beginning to show it in patches and he will improve for us and deliver. Adam is capable of delivering top set pieces and when he's on his game his passing is excellent. Lucas took a long time to settle at Liverpool but until his injury had been out best player for eighteen months. Henderson has ability but is still young and time on the pitch is the best way for him to bring on his game, he's played some good passes for us and has good energy, he will be a good player and people need to forget the price tag and remember he's still a young player learning the game. Suarez and Carroll up front, the classic little man / big man combination that has served us well over time. Both are still settling in at Liverpool, ok it would have been nice if it had happened faster but it hasn't. They are both players who when they are in form defenders don't like to face but the form hasn't arrived consistently for them yet.
That is a side of promising players, not one of them even coming close to the latter years of their careers. Lucas improved for two reasons, his attitude and the fact he played regularly in the team. If he had been dropped a couple of years ago we wouldn't have the player we have now. It's normal for a club to have a player like this in the side and the other ten players help them bed in. We have half a team bedding in so it will always take longer. Look at Man Utd, they've spent big money over the last few years on Anderson, Nani, Hargreaves, Carrick, Young, Valencia and their best two midfielders, the two key players who make the team function, are both in their late thirties and won't be replaced overnight, it will take time for their replacements to settle and for the team to get used to them not being there. Chelsea have spent massive amounts of money trying to overhaul their squad but when it comes down to it and they really need a result who pulls them out of it? Drogba, Lampard and Terry. Three players at the end of their careers who they want to replace but can't if they want instant success.
We had to sell Torres, a world class player and an idol to our fans. Which managers could have sold him and still kept the fans on side? Only one, Kenny Dalglish. Which managers could be in charge of our current team, bringing in so many new young players needing time to adapt, taking the bad results that will come along the way and still hear the fans singing his name at every match? Only one, Kenny Dalglish.
I'm not saying Kenny should definitely be in charge next season, that should be decided in the summer, but what I am saying is that looking at the bigger picture of what he has done this season gives a different impression to that created by our last six league games.
Our form MUST improve before the end of the season but it's important to remember in a transitional season results are not the only thing that matters.
No comments:
Post a Comment