King\'s reign ends as FSG plan for future

Wembley Blues for Reds as Carroll leads charge

Long summer at Anfield as FSG cast eye across Europe

Every Wednesday night, a few of the lads would get together for a boys night in of football and merriment. The football on offer was of the virtual kind. Pro Evolution Soccer on the PS3. Now you have to get the picture right. We're all grown men, most of us married and fathers. But this weekly tournament became seriously competitive. 100m budgets for auction nights, weekly League standings and silverware to play for. And boy did we play. Though things were competitive and every game close, two teams dominated the League. One player who never won a tournament was known as FIFA Boy (obviously named because of his sacreligious penchant for the rival footy game FIFA). FIFA Boy played beautiful, free flowing football. Whenever he played against Lionel, an Arsenal fan with Torrett's Syndrome, he totally dominated proceedings. He would hit the woodwork with almost embarrassing regularity, always had more possession, more shots on goal, more on target, more corners and an endless list of complaints about the refereeing. But Lionel would end up winning the game. In his last tournament before returning to Blighty it all got too much for the hapless FIFA Boy. Having pinned Lionel in his half for virtually the whole game, hit the woodwork 4 times including hitting the woodwork from the penalty spot, Lionel  launched one counter attack in stoppage time and clinically slid the ball home to take the game. It was then that FIFA Boy opened up like a Catholic alter boy. "I just can't put it away when it counts. I can't take the pressure. I've missed so many times, I almost aim for the post now." He did also say "I'm shit. I'm going home" but that's besides the point. You see, when FIFA Boy was dominating games and hitting the woodwork, everyone thought he was unlucky...for about half an hour. Because it soon dawned on us that he wasn't unlucky. He was consistently useless when it came to the part of the game that actually matters...sticking the ball into the back of the net...which as far as I'm aware is the whole point of football.  Which as you may or may not have cottoned on to (if you're still there) brings me to our beloved Liverpool FC.

Liverpool were beaten yet again at Anfield, this time by West Brom who recorded their first victory at the ground for 45 years (about the same number of years it will take to claw back Andy Carroll's transfer fee). Roy Hodgson was his genial and humble self, but you did get the impression he was surpressing a Ricky Gervais "Office" style dance routine once the final whistle had blown. And who could blame him? Liverpool's famed fan loyalty was in scant evidence throughout his torrid reign. At his and Liverpool's lowest points, he was mocked with "Hodgson for England" and "Dalglish" chants. The fans got Dalglish and who knows Hodgson may yet still become England manager. What's that saying about "be careful what you wish for...?". 

It's difficult writing about Liverpool these days. Not just that the results are painful, but one has to resist the temptation to just cut and paste all previous write up's, changing just the names and venues. For this was a story all too familiar to Reds fans. Dominant in posession, hitting the woodwork, opposition keepers earning their corn and a good old moan at the referee who, if you go by much of what many fans say, is part of an international conspiracy against the club. 

So what conclusion can we draw from the weekends defeat? Quite a few. One is that we are not, absolutely not, unlucky. We are just poor at scoring goals. Yes, Henderson's effort was a great one which cannoned off the bar. But his other gilt edged opportunity did not even trouble the keeper. Suarez had a great chance saved by the keeper. But this was no Gordon Banks type save that will live in the memory for 50 years. It was Suarez, through on goal, blasting the ball at the keeper who had nothing to do other than prevent the ball from smacking him in the face. Contrast that with Odamw...Odemven...Odemwnger....the Albion number 9's composure when put through beautifully by Glen Johnson (who to be fair, up until that point had had a decent game). There was no blasting the ball with his eyes closed or maybe trying to dive head first into the penalty spot to earn a spot kick. He composed himself, gave Reina the eyes and calmly slotted the ball past the wrong footed Spaniard. You know, just like any mid-table striker does week in week out. Ask Grant Holt of newly promoted Norwich. Or Yakubu of relegation scrappers Blackburn Rovers. Or Pappise Cisse who joined NUFC in January, or bench warmers Jermaine Defoe, Havier Hernandes and Daniel Sturridge or Stephen Fletcher of relegated Wolves, or Odamw...Odomwon...Odumwin....WBA's number 9, or Danny Graham of Swansea City who have all scored more goals than any Liverpool player. Our top scorer is Luis Suarez on 8. The same number scored by Heider Helguson of relegation threatened QPR and Anthony Pilkington of Norwich City. I don't even know who Pilkington is but he's scored as many goals in a newly promoted team as a 23m striker in a 150m + team. That does not suggest in any way bad luck. It confirms beyond any reasonable doubt that we are just not good enough in the final third of the pitch.  And it's not just a case of needing a clinical striker. It suggests that Liverpool FC as a team, are not confident enough in their own abilities to put teams like WBA, QPR and Blackburn to the sword. Most of the teams efforts on goal are shots hit with power, head down, eyes closed. There are very few saves made from opposition keepers which you would not expect any professional keeper from any League to make. Most are regulation, straight at the keeper which comes down to poor finishing and not bad luck. And why are we waiting for an opposition keeper to have a stinker before we feel comfortable enough to score?

Kenny Dalglish's post match interview was not encouraging either. Can we honestly say that Roy Hodgson could have got away with statements like "we'll just keep plodding along and hope it turns for us" or "I can't tell you what we're doing wrong, I don't have the answers"? I seriously doubt it. Now, post match interviews are not the be all and all and neither am I suggesting fans turn on Kenny, like they did on Hodgson, for saying those things. However, there is a deep rooted concern that the players are just not motivated and, yes, frightened enough of Dalglish to turn things around. Raffa Benitez was always accused of being a bit distant from his players and over demanding. Dalglish seems to be more of a mate to the players which I'm not sure is the way modern footballers need to be managed. 

The silver lining of course is the FA Cup. By beating Merseyside rivals Everton to book a date with Chelsea in just a few weeks time Dalglish is on course for a Cup double which has only been achieved 4 times in history. That would make it appear some achievement. And it's not one to belittle. But neither is it one to go overboard on. Football has changed since the days where any kind of domestic Cup success was seen as just that...success. That was a long time ago. The Carling Cup has long been a trophy that most successful teams see as at best a bedding in competition for youngsters and fringe squad players. You remember, the way we treated the tournament under Benitez when we were more concerned with the inevitable Champions League run. Even the FA Cup has lost much of it's prestige. It's not to say that winning the FA Cup will not mean anything, but it's not everything either. Those that suggest they'd rather have two domestic Cups than Champions League football have lost touch with the reality of modern football. The Champions League has changed modern club football forever...whether for better or worse is another debate. But change it, it has. The tired old argument that Alex Ferguson took 7 years to win a title does not even begin to reflect the completely different context in which those preceeding 7 years were played in. There was pressure, no doubt. But the pressure was to build a title winning team and he was fortunate enough to have a board that backed his long term plan. But there was no Champions League and there was no minimum requirement of a "top four finish". Finishing 6th was no different to finishing 2nd or 3rd. United finishing 6th in pre-Champions League era football did not mean they could not attract top class talent to ply their trade at Old Trafford. That is no longer the case. Freguson arrived at United in the mid 1980's. A decade in which teams like West Ham, Ipswich and Swansea could seriously challenge for the title. It was a decade where Aston Villa did win the title and indeed the European Cup. It was a decade where a small club like Wimbeldon could get promoted up four divisions to reach the 1st Division and beat one of the best teams in English history to win the FA Cup. That kind of thing won't happen anymore. Swansea will not push for the title next season, neither will West Ham if promoted, and neither will Villa or clubs of their standing. And it's all down to the Champions League and the money that spins off qualification to this elite club. If you're in it, you get more money, more exposure and access to the best players. If you're not in it, the longer you remain out of that club the harder it is to break back in. A top club may be generous enough to give you 100m and then wait a few years for the title. But they will not, they cannot, give a manager 100m and then wait a few years to qualify for the top four. That is commercial and footballing suicide. 

There are a lot of calls from supporters for KD to give the kids a run out for the remaining games of the season. It may appear to some that we have nothing to play for, and they maybe right. But KD has everything to play for. FSG are, as we speak, seriously considering their managerial options for next season. It's not just the failure to land a top four slot. It's the abject collapse of a team since it's Carling Cup victory in February that has caused so much consternation at board level. FSG are keen to be seen to give KD as much of a chance as they possibly can, however are ruthless enough to know that allowing the manager to fall on his own sword may well allow them to carry forward their original blueprint for the club, abandoned due to fan pressure to appoint Dalglish. This time, FSG will call the shots and not the fans. Much will depend on the remaining few games of the season as well as events around Europe. There will be high profile managers that will be on FSG's list if they decide to move KD upstairs. Former Chelsea boss Andres Villas Boas fits the FSG profile perfectly and many believe that Chelsea was the wrong club at the wrong time although the Portuguese manager may well look at Gerrard and Carragher and see Lampard and Terry. FSG will also be casting an eye over the Champions League Final. Should Real Madrid overcome Bayern Munich and lift the trophy to add to their imminent La Liga triumph, a certain Jose Mourinho is expected to move on with "job done" at the Bernebaue. A race for his signature amongst English clubs will ensue with Spurs, Chelsea, United and City all expected to target the former Chelsea boss. But there are obstacles. Alex Ferguson has no desire to put on his slippers just yet. Roman Abrahmovic has yet to bury the hatchet with his former employee whilst City may well become Champions making it difficult for it's Abu Dhabi owners to sack him. Spurs will probably lose Harry Redknapp to the England job but is the club big enough for the Big Ego? Mourinho would want a team with a history, a tradition that he can build on. He would also need a substantial transfer fund to play with. Liverpool can certainly offer him the former. It's up to FSG whether they would allow the latter after the profligacy of the current regime. 

It's going to get interesting...

Dalglish stock dives as Carroll and Reina lose plot

Pepe Reina was sent off, Andy Carroll hauled off and Kenny Dalglish told to **** off as Liverpool made it 6 losses in 7 Premier League outings. Newcastle made light work of their 2-0 win with two goals from 9m signing Pappis Demba Cisse and now move 11 points clear of Kenny Dalglish's men.

In the build up to this game, Dirk Kuyt believed that Liverpool were "still the better team". That claim was laughed out of the North East as a compact and fluid Newcastle team put the visitors firmly in their place. Cisse, Demba Ba and Ben Arfa were a potent threat going forward and must have been rubbing their hands with glee with a three man midfield including Jonjo Shelvy and Jay Spearing. In contrast Liverpool deployed Bellamy and Suarez either side of Andy Carroll who was returning to his boyhood club for the first time. Prior to the game, Carroll had assured everyone that if he scored he would be respectful and not celebrate. Instead, he showed less respect to his former club as well as his current one than Ed Milliband is given by attempting a dive that beggared belief. For those who missed it, either go to YouTube or to Show Comedy as they are already in the middle of Season 1 of "Andy Capp".

Liverpool started reasonably, keeping possession well and in the 9th minute looked like they would go ahead. Carroll did well to win possession and then skip past Michael Williamson with just keeper Tim Krul to beat. You wouldn't have put money on Carroll to score, but once he'd rounded the Dutchman he had only to roll the ball into an empty net from 10 yards. Instead, and inexplicably, he decided to dive when there was no contact from the keeper. If ever a moment encapsulated the turmoil of Andy Carroll's Anfield experience, it was this. With the goal at his mercy he opted for a pathetic, buttock clenchingly embarrassing dive to earn a penalty that, judging by this season, would probably have ended up hitting Mike Ashley in his rotund face high up in the Directors box.

And as we speak, the growing legions of delusional and rabidly paranoid internet warriors have taken to social networking sites actually suggesting that the big Geordie accidentally tripped over the ball and in no way attempted to con the referee and get his former team mate sent off. Yes, that's right. Carroll didn't dive once he'd realised he'd actually run past the ball. It's obvious that the replays didn't clearly show that Carroll had started to fall even before his brick like right foot had even made contact with the ball. And it's clear that there is a conspiracy at large involving every match official in Europe, every member of the oppsition, every television commentator and every member of the press. Yes, these internet warriors are correct that Osama bin Laden was actually signed by Liverpool earlier this year to replace Lucas, only for Alex Ferguson to send in a crack team of Navy SEALS to scupper the move by assasinating him. He even dumped his body in the Mersey. As we speak, NATO is preparing a bombing campaign to topple the increasingly aggressive Dalglish regime and crippling sanctions will soon be targetting the Anfield regime by the United Nations which is obviously a rabidly pro-United organisation.  You see, Suarez didn't damage the club and neither did Dalglish's ludicrous backing of him. The whole "Suarez t-shirt" fiasco was actually a Ferguson conspiracy as the old Scot dressed up as Kenny and made the players wear them. And Suarez didn't handle the ball over the line against Wigan because in Uruguay the shoulder is actually the hand. And on and on we go. Just because we have no evidence to back up these claims....so what??!! It's better than the truth right? And anyone who disagrees is just a United supporter in disguise.

And where does this unquestioning backing of the players lead? What does it get you? And what did it get Kenny Dalglish on Sunday? It got him a humilating volley of verbal abuse from Andy Carroll as the number 9 was subbed with 11 minutes to go. The man that has backed him when all others have forsaken him was told to "**** off" in front of thousands, marched down the tunnel and threw his shirt off. Now maybe the word "forsaken" is a bit much and  a touch Biblical. But then again, we are talking about a man with long hair who regularly gets crucified at the end of a cross so maybe it's more apt than we realise. This should be the end for the Carroll indulgence campaign now. His total lack of professionalism and open disrespect for Dalglish is reprehensible given his goals return and given that Dalglish has continously protected him. His constant whining, his string of expletives that follow every inoccious challenge and his increasingly desperate and embarrassing attempts to win free-kicks and penalties all point to a player that simply does not have a future at Anfield. 

The team as a whole were poor and as usual lacked a creative spark and a cutting edge. To compound yet another woeful episode, Pepe Reina was red carded in the closing minutes of the game for an attempted head-butt on James Perch. I say attempted because the contact was minimal if anything at all. But the intent was there for all to see. Whilst Perch's disgraceful face grabbing fall would suggest asking for an immediate paternity test be done on Rivaldo, it doesn't excuse one of our most experienced players losing his composure with minutes of a game left that was already lost and thereby jeapordising Liverpool's chances in the FA Cup by virtue of his 3 match ban. That Kenny Dalglish felt compelled to walk onto the pitch to calm the situation, only to be waived away by John Terry....sorry, I mean Steven Gerrard put the faeces laden gloss on Liverpool's abject display. 

Liverpool are now closer to the relegation zone than the top four and have been lurching from one crisis to the next. It's not just about the defeats. Neither is it the mediocre displays that lead to those defeats as every club goes through such phases. It is the fact that the club have become a laughingstock. From race rows, banned players, disrespect toward the manager, monkey chants at Anfield, opposition players being abused into tears, the ludicrous press conferences and clear intent to pick a fight with just about anyone has damaged the reputation of the club beyond measure. And for those that think reputation doesn't matter I say this. It's all we have right now. We don't have the League nor are we a part of Europes elite competition. What we have, what we had and relied on during these barren years was our reputation. It was our reputation that persuaded Fernando Torres to leave his beloved Athletico Madrid to join Liverpool. It persuaded young Spanish starlets like Pepe Reina and Xabi Alonso to come to Anfield. It persuaded Javier Mascherano to turn down offers from Spain and Italy to join a club of historic proportions. Clearly, they also came because of Raffa Benitez who's ability to lure great talent from the continent has become all the more painfully apparent after the recent influx of mediocre British "talent". But they also joined a club with reputation. How bitterly ironic it is that is under the tutelage of the clubs greatest proponent of reputation and history that has played an unwitting part in it's sullying. A man who is synonimous with the clubs great reputation has overseen it's almost universal ridicule. And those that point out the ills at Anfield are not traitors, nor are they United supporters in disguise. Some of us actually take Dalglish's words seriously...that no person, not a single one is bigger than the club. As a lifelong supporter it is my right to question the direction of my club. I will do it within the borders of what is acceptable. Meaning I won't ever boo my own team. I won't ever hound our young players in a shameful way...you know, the way in which the now much missed Lucas Leiva was by the Anfield faithful. But I have a right to question our transfer policy. I have a right to question the wisdom of spending 35m on a striker that everybody thought was over rated and over priced. I have a right to ask why we thought Adam and Henderson were thought better than Aquilani and Meireles. And I have a right to stay consistent in my belief that Raffa Benitez should never, ever have been sacked. Yes, I can and will question the King. A King I grew up with. A King that gave me some of the happiest memories of my life. A King that also wrote in his 1997 Autobiography that the only clubs he would return to manage were Liverpool, Newcastle United, Arsenal....and Manchester United. Yes....that Manchester United. It's far more convenient to forget such things, as we never like to admit some bitter truths. That in fact, there is nobody bigger than the club because there is nobody that is ever totally loyal to club in the way that supporters are. Nobody can doubt that Dalglish loves Liverpool FC. How could he not? His greatest achievements were in a Red shirt. Nobody doubts that Steven Gerrard loves his beloved Liverpool FC as does Jamie Carragher. But Gerrard put the supporters through the wringer on more than one occassion. That he decided to stay doesn't make this a great act of loyalty anymore than getting into bed with another woman twice only to back out on closing the deal at the last minute. Carragher is on record saying that he'd love to stay at the club until he retires but if it became clear he was no longer first choice he would not hesitate to join another club. Just like Robbie Fowler, Steve McMannaman, Graeme Souness, Kevin Keegan, Ian Rush and many more. This is not a criticism of those players or Dalglish. It's merely a call to Liverpool supporters to realise that players are professional footballers and not supporters. They have has much feeling toward their club as we do toward the companies that we work in. We all know that as much as we may love working at the company we do, if a better offer with more money and better prospects comes up then there is very little loyalty shown no matter what that company may have done to develop us. So, I do have a right to question Dalglish without having my own loyalty questioned.

The season can't end soon enough for Liverpool as only the end of season break can restore some belief and reset the whole project. Whether John Henry and NESV will give Dalglish another year remains to be seen. But what is clear is that more investment will be needed. Andy Carroll is not a Liverpool player and he never will be. We need more pace on the right, another commanding center back to push Agger and Skrtel and to cover for the inevitable injuries to Agger. We need an out and out goalscorer to preferably link up with Suarez but if it means as replacement then so be it. 

A new manager? The remainder of this season may well determine the answer to that question. A question that can and should be asked.