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John Henry boxes himself in at Liverpool over Kenny Dalglish
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This is why Liverpool should’ve looked into the future rather than back to the past.
There’s a section of Liverpool fans who will stand-by Kenny Dalglish regardless of how he performs as manager. That’s laudable really, especially in an age where fans are more fickle than ever. However, John Henry must surely be starting to doubt the wisdom of installing Dalglish, because the pricey team that’s been assembled grows more underwhelming by the week.
It’s interesting to compare the treatment of Dalgish by the Liverpool fans with the comparative relationship between Arsene Wenger and the Arsenal faithful. One heralded as a saviour regardless of contemporary results, and the other derided because of them. The past is Wenger’s enemy, whereas for Dalglish it’s a saving grace. Arsenal and Liverpool are currently level on points.
Can you imagine how Anfield would’ve reacted to a Roy Hodgson team that failed to beat Swansea, Norwich, and Sunderland at home? Or how the fans might have responded to getting humiliated at White Hart Lane?
The problem John Henry has, is that anytime you appoint a club legend as manager you complicate the situation. Getting rid of Dalglish, should he ever want to, is almost impossible given the fans emotional investment in the man himself. Sacking someone like that would put the ownership in direct opposition to a considerable percentage of the fanbase – and owners do that at their peril.
Some may argue that even talk of dismissing Dalglish is premature, but since when is this kind of form acceptable to a club of that stature? The Champions League grows a more remote objective by the week, and you could certainly make a case for saying that Liverpool are currently – on form – the seventh best side in the league. That’s not good enough for Liverpool. It’s definitely not acceptable when you’ve spent an absolute fortune on putting a team together.
At times, and apologies for this being a laboured point, Andy Carroll looks little more than a Championship player. Stewart Downing is a mid-level player at best, Charlie Adam – for all his much-heralded set-piece qualities – is a passenger in that midfield, and Jordan Henderson has done so little in a Liverpool shirt that you can’t really have an opinion. Luis Suarez is a fantastic player, but he’s actually limited by what goes on behind him.
That’s an awful lot of money for very little product, and on the basis that you can’t eat out on the 1980s forever, there eventually has to be some accountability for how this team is performing. Trouble is though, how much of that accountability can John Henry put on his manager?
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Is Kenny Dalglish really the right manager for Liverpool?
Nothing’s really changed under Kenny Dalglish has it – outwardly anyway. This is not a team that looks any closer to challenging the league’s elite team than the ones built by Rafael Benitez or Gerard Houllier. What I see, and what most who are objective see, is two or three world class players surrounded by a lot of average British players.
Charlie Adam, Stewart Downing, Jordan Henderson, and Andy Carroll? I promise you this, no side that ever wins anything will include any of those players. All of them brought to the club by Dalglish, all for exaggerated transfer fees – and one for the most absurd transfer fee that the football market has ever seen.
When Dalglish returned as manager, the concern was that he would try and apply a previously successful philosophy to rebuilding the team – the one that served him so well at Blackburn. But that’s the problem, that was over fifteen years ago. The players brought in over the Summer are just so British, and by which I mean that they’re one-dimensional. Those are no longer the components needed for a successful Premier League club.
The reign of Rafa Benitez seems to be derided an awful lot with hindsight, but look at the team he built; Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso, Luis Garcia, Pepe Reina. Those were players to be envied and feared by other teams. Do you get any sense of dread from watching Stewart Downing cut back in off his wing half-a-dozen times?
Don’t tell me that he needs time to get this right, because he’s had time – and he’s had two transfer windows and an awful lot of cash to create a team that’s supposed to challenge for a place in the top four. That’s not going to happen, at least that’s not where this team is headed for.
Whether the team is better to watch is really irrelevant, they’re still dropping points in games where they shouldn’t. Isn’t that a hallmark of Liverpool in the Premier League era? Playing up to the Sky cameras one week and then getting done by some cannon fodder the week after? What’s improved?
The story is great; a legend returning to lead a club back to where it feels it belongs, but that’s just romanticism. Dalglish is a great man, and his contribution to Liverpool and to the game as a whole is unquantifiable – but it feels like he might might be in danger of tarnishing his legacy.
I think most people want a strong Liverpool for the sake of the league, they are still one of the most storied football clubs in world football – but I don’t think Dalglish is capable of creating a title-contender. Ironically, it’s this kind of backwards thinking that hurts the club so much, at the time of the Dalglish appointment they needed a fresh face – someone with a different approach to the game. Instead, it just feels like they’ve gone for the immediate feel good factor that Dalglish was capable of bringing. The anti-Hodgson.
The end of the Rafa Benitez reign combined with Roy Hodgson’s tenure created a false reality at the club, everything seemed much worse than it really was – hence any slight improvement was always going to bring with it a disproportionate sense of achievement.
Kenny was the short-term fix, he’s not the long-term solution.
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Not buying into the Dalglish managerial myth
I’ve never been sold on Kenny Dalglish’s abilities as a manager. The alignment of the stars that happened at Blackburn is now over fifteen years ago; for some added context, that’s before Euro 96, before New Labour entered Government, and before we realised that the Y2K bug was merely hysterical rhetoric.
Moving back to the present day, I’m not convinced by what’s going on at Anfield – not the players that have been signed and not the tactics that are being deployed. Liverpool are still behind where they were under Rafael Benitez, their squad may be better but their first-team is worse. While stocking a club with ‘homegrown’ players may be popular, it’s not a formula that is likely to bring you silverware. It’s as if Dalglish is using what happened at Blackburn as a blueprint for his reign at Anfield; Stewart Downing is Jason Wilcox, Charlie Adam is Stuart Ripley, and Jordan Henderson is Tim Sherwood.
An old template in a modern game.
While the Liverpool fans may hope that Dalglish’s remodeling program brings silverware, deep-down you expect that already they may have their doubts. The pre-season chorus of belief in being an outside title-bet now looks laughably misplaced, and the re-entry into the Champions League that was almost assumed doesn’t look particularly realistic.
As a player and as a human-being, Dalglish deserves all the respect he gets, but that respect has leaked into the perception of him as a manager – what did he achieve post-Blackburn? Nothing, an underwhelming run at Newcastle with an arguably more talented set of players, and a bizarre and short-lived stay at Celtic Park as both Director of Football and Manager. It’s really not the most comprehensive CV, but strangely it’s not one that is ever really examined.
His tactics at White Hart Lane were frighteningly inept, and even before their numbers diminished Liverpool’s midfield was easily picked apart by Tottenham’s slick football. Martin Skrtel at right-back against Gareth Bale, without any protection in front of him, what did you expect would happen? The failure to introduce Dirk Kuyt after Charlie Adam’s dismissal was also a huge error, and one his side paid for in North London.
In reality, Dalglish may make the club look more cohesive than it was in the latter days of Benitez and during the reign of Hodgson, but as a force within the Premier League they’re really no closer to where they want to be.
Teams will be beaten in the tunnel at Anfield, just as they always have been, but Dalglish looks a little behind the times against more illustrious opponents – that becomes more obvious every week.
4 things we’ve learnt: Adebayor, Swansea, Stoke, Manchester City
Emmanuel Adebayor is a mercenary
Obviously something that wasn’t learnt over the weekend, more that it was just reaffirmed.
Adebayor was interviewed after the game, and made it quite clear how little concern he has for anybody that views his club-swapping with a frown.
This is what the rest of his career will look like; single seasons for different clubs, a hired gun brought in to provide short-term goalscoring solutions. Striker for hire.
Emmanuel Adebayor the player can be as good as it gets – his debut goal for Spurs’ was ironically exactly the type of chance that Harry Redknapp’s team would have spurned last season – but Adebayor the person will only ever be interested in Emmanuel and Emmanuel’s bank balance.
If he plays regularly he’ll always score goals, but even at twenty-seven he’s in danger of being remembered as a case study into what might have been for the want of a little humility.
Only two things are certain with Adebayor, and those are that he’ll neither be playing for Tottenham or Manchester City next season. His ego has burnt all bridges with the former, and his exaggerated self-valuation will obstruct any permanent deal with the latter.
A betting man would say that he’ll be the next high-profile player to sell his soul to Anzhi Makhachkala.
Swansea are in trouble
Before the season started, making a case for Swansea’s survival hinged around what they might be able to do going forward. After four games their ‘goals for’ column is still blank, and that’s after the relative ease of home games against Wigan and Sunderland.
During the Summer i said that Brandon Rodgers’ side looked lightweight, and that’s still my belief. Okay, Danny Graham has joined the club to add a little bit more presence, but he’s just not a good enough finisher to score goals at this level.
Travelling to Emirates Stadium is a daunting task, but it’s never been as easy as it is right now. A very shaky Arsenal should’ve been punished at some point, and that they weren’t – and that there’s still no real evidence of a cutting edge – is cause for real concern.
Without Michel Vorm, Swansea would have no points at all this season and their lack of readiness for this level of football would be starkly apparent.
Steve Bruce personifies the myth that predicates that good ex-players make good managers
Stoke have become the new Bolton…
…In that they don’t get nearly enough credit.
Like the early-to-mid-00s team that Sam Allardyce created at Bolton, Tony Pulis’ Stoke are too often dismissed as just a physical team that feed off feed off direct football.
That’s deeply unfair, and I suspect it’s the product of those who watch only highlights packages and goal round-ups. Truthfully, they play good football, but Tony Pulis also has the nous to recognise when a direct approach can unsettle teams with greater resources than he has. That’s to be applauded.
It’s irritating that the media jumped so willingly on the back of Kenny Dalglish’s ‘conspiracy’ claims over the weekend – where was the praise for Stoke? This is a team that has only conceded one goal all season, and is fourth in the league.
Yes, Liverpool were incredibly wasteful, but accusations of poor refereeing really shouldn’t detract from what was an incredibly committed defensive performance.
One suspects that a lot of the criticism that Stoke receive is based on outdated opinions about their style of football – outdated because these same critics are clearly not watching ninety minutes of the games. People need to start accepting what this team is, and that’s a bona fide top-half side.
One note on the refereeing, you could certainly make a case for saying that every decision Mark Clattenburg made on Saturday was correct – maybe some of them were contentious, but none of them were outright mistakes.
Actually what doesn’t get applauded enough is Stoke’s ability to switch their way of playing when necessary, how many teams in the league are actually able to present a physical and footballing threat simultaneously? Very few, well done Tony Pulis.
David Silva is the best player in the league at the moment
It’s becoming increasingly en vogue to say it, but the little Spaniard really is a pleasure to watch. Sergio Aguero’s pyrotechnics may write more headlines, but Silva is more valuable to Manchester City.
His first touch, his weight of pass, and his awareness of what’s around him when he receives the ball are all exemplary.
Most impressive of all though, you never hear a word from him. In the contemporary game, not to have someone agitating for respect, more money, or more praise is genuinely refreshing. The rebuttal to that is of course that Silva’s wages would probably already make Caligula blush, but it’s all relative – that didn’t stop Tevez, Rooney, Modric, Torres etc.
Remember also that Silva had the traditional settling-in period that goes with being a dainty playmaker in this league, but still there was no moaning – just an adjustment of his game, and probably a little time spent in the gym. Probably an absolute pleasure for Roberto Mancini to manage.
A likeable Premier League star and an outstanding footballer, I’d almost forgotten what those looked like.
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Inflated-Market ‘Poster Child’ Stewart Downing on verge of Liverpool move
Really?
£20m for Stewart Downing.
Sorry, but Liverpool are fast turning into the new Manchester City – clubs can name their price for their want-away players and Kenny Dalglish will pay-up. £35m for Andy Carroll – fine, £16m for Jordan Henderson – why not, £9m for Charlie Adam – brilliant, and how about £20m for Downing – bargain.
Dalglish is buying players that will cherish the red shirt and who understand the heritage of the team, that’s for certain, and that in itself is a valuable commodity – there have been too few players at Liverpool in the modern era that have understood the responsibility of playing for the club. However, there’s a distinction between players wanting to play for a club, and players being good enough to play for a club and move it forward.
Can anybody honestly say that any of the incoming players this summer represent a transition to a higher-level for Liverpool?
In a team that exists around twelfth to sixth in the Premier League, Stewart Downing is a good player. But for a team that has aspirations on Champions League qualification, Downing will not be a difference-maker. A good squad player, maybe – but you don’t buy ‘good squad players’ for £20m.
Unless the transfer policy at Anfield changes, there’s no way this team is going to finish in the top four, and the volume of spending that will accompany that failure will tarnish the legacy of Kenny Dalglish. After nearly £50m worth of spending, Chelsea are still stronger, Manchester City and United are still stronger, and Tottenham and Arsenal are still stronger.
…and that £50m hasn’t involved a left-back joining the club. Astonishing.
Dalglish’s strange spending set to continue with Downing.
It’s a very strange transfer window at Anfield.
Liverpool’s interest in Stuart Downing is concrete, we know that courtesy of the bid that Aston Villa rejected for him ten days ago, and The Sun this morning reported that Kenny Dalglish is willing to up that initial offer to £18.5m. What’s noticeable by its absence is the lack of resistance this seems to be arousing from Merseyside.
Stuart Downing is a good player, but he’s not exceptional and he’s not worth £20m. While Dalglish’s emphasis on British-based talent is laudable, it’s also worryingly stubborn. The fee Liverpool paid for Andy Carroll is old news, and not really worth revisiting, but a collective £44m on Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam, and potentially Downing is a lot of money for a group of fairly mundane players. You could certainly make an argument that none of the players arriving over the Summer are actually an upgrade on what exists at Anfield at the moment.
There’s rightly a lot of trust between the fans and Dalglish, but what happens if Liverpool start the new season badly? If October comes, and the club languishes again in mediocrity, is that blind faith going to look misplaced? The Scotsman is one of only five managers to win the Premier League, and that affords him a lot of credibility, but Blackburn’s title anomaly was a long time ago now.
This is not 1995, you can’t build a team out of Tim Sherwoods and Stuart Ripleys anymore, and if you still want to try it’s much more expensive than it used to be. Time my prove this to be wrong – hopefully, because a strong Liverpool is important to English football – but Dalglish’s transfer policy seems antiquated. Sixteen years ago, foreign players were the over-priced risk in the market, and their homegrown contemporaries were the cheaper and more efficient alternative – now the roles have reversed. So far, Dalglish seems unable or unwilling to adapt to this reality.
Last season was a honeymoon, and should Dalglish fail to live up to expectation this term, there’ll be no Roy Hodgson-shaped scapegoat to compare himself favourably to. Remember also, that the Fernando Torres revenue is now well and truly reinvested, and the outlay on Adam and Downing will come directly from the pockets of the Fenway Sports Group – who will not be blinded by nostalgia should objectives not be reached.
Strange times.
Wenger blames everyone else but Arsenal for dropped points
Hello Monday morning, hello Arsene Wenger blaming absolutely everybody except his own players for Arsenal dropping points. Again.
‘We conceded a penalty after 11 minutes when the referee said there was eight minutes of injury time. I don’t see where those three minutes came from, and it was no penalty.’
Well, yes it was. If Emmanuel Eboue hadn’t felt the need to barge straight through back of Lucas on his way to failing to get the ball, then no penalty would have been given. But he did, so it was. The additional three minutes of time were added on en lieu of the, roughly, same amount of time taken between the referee awarding Arsenal a penalty down the other end and the game restarting.
‘We dropped two points. It was a difficult game against a Liverpool team who basically only defended.’
So? Ever since the ‘parking the bus’ comment from Jose Mourinho, it’s seemingly become unacceptable for teams to be defensive whilst away from home and playing one of the league’s biggest teams. Setting-up a team to play defensively and then looking to snag points on the counter-attack is a manager’s right – it’s a valid tactic. If Kenny Dalglish was quoted in the press this morning as bemoaning Arsenal’s tendency to attack, what would be the difference? We’re so bored of hearing this.
‘It’s not right – the only reason we conceded is because the opposition attack all the time.’
None of this is valid, Arsenal have thrown away a title that they should have already won. On another note though, how good a penalty taker is Dirk Kuyt?
Young & Jarvis wanted by Liverpool – But only according to The Mirror
The Daily Mirror goes all big and boasty this morning with their ‘Dalglish eyes wide boys Young and Jarvis to attend Carroll service’ story – clever play on words there, wonder how long they’ve been trying to crowbar that into a headline?
Anyway, the crux of the story is that Ashley Young and Matt Jarvis are wanted at Anfield to feed Andy Carroll. Quotes that mention Matt Jarvis? None. Quotes that mention Ashley Young? None. Percentage of the story which has nothing to do with the headline and is actually just a report on Steven Gerrard’s groin injury? About 40%
It’s a bit like when you were answering questions in GCSE exams that you weren’t really sure of the answers to, and instead you just waffled inconsequentially to fill the templated space for your answer. Nobody bought it then, nobody buys it now.
Also, hands up anybody that thinks Ashley Young is choosing Anfield over Old Trafford this Summer?
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