The Return of the King – as it was billed – hasn’t exactly gone to plan three games in. So here we take a look at what impact Kenny Dalglish is having on Liverpool (2/1 – Top 6 PL Finish) and assess whether he really is the man to restore the club to their former glories.
To Liverpool fans, Dalglish was the ONLY man who should have been given the chance to make the Reds great again. Many, after learning he wanted the job as Rafael Benitez’s successor in the summer, could not understand why the Scot was overlooked by the club in favour of Roy Hodgson.
Hence, as soon as results went wrong for Roy (which was pretty much from the word go) and rumblings of player discontent at Anfield and Melwood grew louder, there was such a clamour for him to be sacked and Kenny installed as new manager.
The hordes on The Kop got their way in the aftermath of another sorry display from Hodgson’s side – the 3-1 reverse at Blackburn earlier this month – and, suddenly, everything seemed brighter on the Red half of Merseyside.
No-one was expecting Dalglish to wave a magic wand and watch immediately as the hugely-underperforming squad began to swat teams aside like Dalglish’s best-ever side of 1987-88 used to, but the former Newcastle and Celtic chief was expected to rejuvenate the squad, unite a bickering staff and, generally, get the club back on track after three years of rocky mismanagement, poor results and under-investment.
Cynics will say the only way Liverpool can compete again with the top four is if they spend money on new players like Manchester United, City and Chelsea have done in the past few years as, remember, the current squad at Anfield is the product of months of skimping and saving, selling top players (Javier Mascherano and Xabi Alonso most notably) and shopping in the bargain basement sections for free transfers (the names Milan Jovanovic and Sotirios Kyrgiakos come to mind here).
Yes, some of the £60million or so acquired from the sales of Alonso and Mascherano were ploughed back into the club to finance deals for the likes of the hugely-disappointing Glen Johnson (£18million), the promising Raul Meireles (£11.5m) and, the somewhat baffling, Christian Poulsen (£4.5m) but major investment in new, young players has been lacking.
Finally, talk of big-money swoops for Ajax’s Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez, Villa pair Ashley Young and Stewart Downing and astute raids for experienced performers like Mark van Bommel and ex-Red Stephen Warnock are taking up the column inches, and it seems Liverpool’s owners, Fenway Sports Group, understand the need for new players – and fast – if a scrape with relegation is to be avoided.
But it is with Dalglish who the fans are pinning their hopes on most. This is the man voted as the club’s greatest-ever player by the official website recently, the man who was handed the player-manager’s job in 1985 – a surprise at the time – but then duly went on to win the double in his first season in charge and went about assembling that team of 1987-88, regarded by many Liverpool fans as the best attacking side ever, as he gathered more titles and another FA Cup before stepping down in 1991.
That came in the aftermath of Hillsborough – something which severely dented Dalglish’s love for football at the time. He appears to have recovered, however, and currently looks like a child in the pic ‘n’ mix section, having to pinch himself that he is once again in charge of the club he adores.
One of Dalglish’s immediate jobs is to restore confidence and, even though two defeats and a draw do not particularly reflect a change in the club’s fortunes under the 59-year-old so far, there does appear to be a renewed sense of optimism with everyone seemingly pulling in the right direction ahead of Saturday’s trip to Wolves (Liverpool 5/4, Wolves 21/10, draw 11/5 – match betting).
It remains to be seen whether Dalglish’s second coming will, in time, be viewed as a masterstroke or fan-led folly, but one thing is certain, one of the biggest characters in the game is back – and he will give everything he has to get Liverpool fighting among the big-boys once again as soon as possible.
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Liverpool head to the seaside this week (Blackpool 14/5, Draw 13/5, Liverpool 10/11 – Match Betting) looking for inspiration from a footballing great, with Kenny Dalglish already showing signs that he can wake them from their slumber – Blackpool, though, will provide a stern test for Dalglish and co.