Back-to-back defeats to Queens Park Rangers and Wigan Athletic represents a disastrous week for Liverpool, and the boos that rang around Anfield on Saturday spoke volumes for the growing sense of unease engulfing a fan base that had trusted so implicitly in their hero. Join Football Burp in casting an eye over three eminent online Reds communities as we make Kenny Dalglish our Embattled Manager of the Week…
Stands accused of…
Gnurglan, Red and White Kop:
“I know Kenny is getting critisism and IMO he should get it – for the signings we made and for the fees we paid for the incoming transfers. We’ve destroyed something like 30-50M in just a year. It’s serious stuff that. It’s the net budget for a transfer year. He should also get critisised for ripping up what worked last season. And for trusting his signings when for example Maxi has shown so much more, yet he’s been constantly overlooked. Critisism is justified.”
Manliverpool, Kop Talk:
“The players by their display for the last few weeks is a clear indication that they are not prepared to die for him. Our performance yesterday speaks volume!!! We all love Liverpool and should be prepared to take decisive decisions!!! Keeping Kenny will not help the team in any way!!! His body language alone tells us that the guys is a goner!!!! He came with the best of intentions but the best intentions does not necessarily deliver results!!”
diamondjoe, Liverpool Way:
“Kenny doesn’t do tactics, he’s a man manager. QPR got rid of Warnock cos he was an old school up and at ’em type and was being tactically outwitted by the likes of Brendan Rodgers et al. Sunderland got rid of Steve bruce for the same reason again, tactically naive. I would say that 99% of people on this site don’t believe now that we could win a league under Kenny. So why give him another season to waste?”
sirjames, Red and White Kop:
“Our fundamental problem is we have bought extremely badly and took massive gambles with certain players that have not come off. Still haven’t replaced alonso, mascherano or torres and the wide player we needed to win the title under rafa we still dont have despite signing downing. We have gone from players with good discipline and football intelligence to players with little game intelligence with players seemingly only able to play one way.”
Stanley Park, Kop Talk:
“I voted Dalglish [in a poll titled ‘Worst Ever LFC Mgr in Living Memory] because I feel he is on a par with Souness and Hodgson and Hodgson don’t forget got no time and had a hate campaign to contend with. Dalglish has had all the advantages including £113m Liverpool’s biggest ever transfer budget by a mile. His press conferences and his smug and arrogant attitude to interviewers get him my vote. I was at Anfield yesterday and there was load booing at the end and the mood inside the centenary stand at half time was rebellious to say the least. I respect the good times as manager and for Hillsborough and as player but seriously I am starting to hate the man now. For what he did in the 1990’s and what he has done today he is a wrecking ball. I support Liverpool FC and I want him out not now but the end of the season for him to resign and resign with dignity both for him and the club.”
zico, Liverpool Way:
“Quickly loosing faith here! Wrong team selections, cautiousness, outdated system, not pressing higher up the pitch, not committing players into the box, lack of tactical tweaks and bold substitutions during our games, terrible transfer business last summer aso – if I’d been given a choice of Bielsa arriving tomorrow it would be a difficult decision for sure! And please Kenny, I know you’re just trying to protect the players, but your Hodgsonesque press statements an insult to our fan base’ intellect… If the players were tired, then play someone else who have been rested! IT IS REALLY THAT SIMPLE, that’s why we have a squad…”
In his defence…
iheartsuarez, Red and White Kop:
“We need stability, a new manager means new tactics to learn and when he doesn’t succeed what? sack him to? like sir bobby robson once said; “People want success, it’s like coffee, they want instant” .. it doesn’t happen like that though. Kenny should be given 2-3 years to build a league winning squad. The newspapers and public always go on about the £115M Kenny spent on players during his time at club, but seem to forget that the club generated £70-£80M on player sales, Torres, Babel, Riera, Dossena,Bennayoun,Ngog,Meireles,Insua and Ayala. So give kenny time and he will lead us back to glory. I have no doubt Kenny will triumph in the end.”
craney91, Kop Talk:
“The players are failing Kenny, because they are a lot better than what they are currently showing. WE KNOW THAT. Maybe not world-beaters, but they are better than this.”
Kevin D, Liverpool Way:
“Leaving aside that he is Kenny Dalglish(and that, rightly, carries some weight), sacking a highly decorated manager in his first season is reactionary and ridiculous, in my opinion. The fact that it is Kenny Dalglish makes it all the more baffling. Thankfully, it’s only WUM and belligerents calling for it, but it’s still not right.”
jaffod, Red and White Kop:
“I had my doubts about Kenny coming back as manager from day one and this season’s events have done nothing to assuage them but no manager should be judged on one full season, especially a man who has given so much to the club already. Liverpool managers usually get 5-6 years minimum before the inevitable happens. Hopefully mistakes have been pinpointed and wont be made again, I’m still hoping Kenny can turn things around next season and there’s no way his position should be questioned until the end of next season at the earliest.”
flames, Kop Talk:
“dalglish must go! reina must go! downing must go! blah blah blah! this is what the baby and the bathwater saying is all about. faz ill be honest, in my opinion i think it is very naiive to think that just sacking and selling is the solution here. especially when the reality is we will only get some half baked manager because we WILL NOT get a top named manager at the moment. And as for Capello, Raffa, Ince, Brendan Rogers, to name a few. come on, get serious.”
Aldonose, Liverpool Way:
“It’s been a proper strange season. Although their has been quite a few disapointing results, I think on the whole we’re not a million miles away from being a really good side. We’ve played (for the most part) some decent football, and a combination of bad luck and poor finishing has cost us dear. Regardless of his status, I think another season is warranted.”
So, how does Kenny Dalglish measure up on the Embattled-O-Meter?
Unpopularity rating…
43%
Derisive nicknames…
None as of yet, nor are there likely to be any given legendary status at club
Estimated number of games left to save his job…
Until end of season (so either 9 or 10, FA Cup semi-final pending)
says…
Clearly if by the end of the season Dalglish can boast a domestic cup double then he couldn’t be classed as a failure. However, back-to-back defeats at the hands of QPR and Wigan have quite rightly got people asking questions, not least of Dalglish’s disastrous-seeming summer signings. Still towards the upper reaches of the table despite dire form, but slipping any further could mean finishing below either or both of Sunderland and (brace yourselves) Everton, which would certainly be frowned upon. Unlike many other clubs thinking about a change of manager, Liverpool probably could bring in a relatively big name, although suggestions of Jose Mourinho would appear to be rather fanciful.
Kenny Dalglish – in or out? Have your say in the comments section below…