Kenny's Rafalution

Dalglish's expression similar to many frustrated Liverpool fans.

Having finally calmed down from yesterday's embarrassing defeat to Wigan and throwing away a 2-0 lead at Loftus Road on Wednesday night, I took some time to consider what is going on at Liverpool FC. Before people start to level the 'do you actually go to the games?' question, I've been to plenty this year, and seen plenty more on TV. This is my dissection of Liverpool's season, which baring potentially two games in the FA Cup, is over.

When Liverpool last lifted the league title at the end of 1989/90 season, Wigan finished 3 points above the drop zone in Division 3 (League 1). They finished 18th, one place below Swansea, and two places above Fulham, who avoided the drop to Division 4 by 1 point. Bolton also played in the same division that year, finishing in the play-offs which were won by Notts County. Fulham, Wigan and Bolton have all beaten Liverpool this year, while The Swans took a very credible point from Anfield which could have easily been three. Furthermore, Liverpool's Carling Cup final opponents Cardiff City were relegated to Division 4 mustering 50 points from 46 games, yet took Liverpool all the way to penalties at Wembley. The same season Wigan played their first game in the Premier League, Liverpool lifted the Champions League trophy in Istanbul, you get what I'm trying to say.

My timeline on social media has seen an influx of people having a pop at Kenny Dalglish, and you can understand why considering the results. But there have been various reasons why Liverpool are languishing this season. When Dalglish took over the Anfield hot seat, the club was a wreck. The fans were angry with performances on the field, which were uninspiring and incredibly boring, there was a new ownership in place which had yet to settle down, and everyone was just getting over the Hick and Gillette fiasco. What the club needed was to get to settle down and get some structure back to what was a club without a trophy since 2006. The new owners said all the right things, and got the fans on board with what was going on. Fans wanted signings, and Dalglish was handed over £100m to build the team he wanted. Things looked optimistic in August, new signings and we were playing attractive football.

Charlie Adam hasn't looked great since his move.

The obvious criticism is the players Kenny has brought in, Henderson, Adam, Carroll, Downing (at times) have not been far from good enough to pull on the Liverpool shirt. Aquilani cost £20m and hasn't been given a chance, yet he looks like he can play the ball around in the same sort of way Xabi Alonso did. 

The stats show that Liverpool have one of, if not the worst conversion rate of chances created to goals. Which would suggest that scoring goals has been the problem, and Liverpool do have one of the lowest goal tallies among the top flight. However, look at the games we've drawn at home, Sunderland, Norwich, Blackburn, Man Utd and Man City. If you keep a clean sheet, you win 1-0. Given, you'd expect Utd or City to score, but should the other three teams be scoring at Anfield? If them three teams went to Old Trafford, you'd expect a clean sheet. Individual errors in the defensive third have been crucial to giving goals away, and that's not just the back four, it's the four in front of them too. People letting men run past them and into the box, not closing down the cross, not winning the ball in the air first time, the list could go on.

The loss of Lucas Leiva has also not helped the mistakes noted above. As shown against Man City, he does that job all the way across the midfield line, that Jay Spearing doesn't seem to have. Spearing works incredibly hard, but he doesn't get outside the width of the box as well as Lucas does. His positioning is slightly off in comparison with Lucas too, there has been gaping holes in front of the back four far too often this year. 

Add up the points you'd expect at home, and things might be looking a bit brighter in the quest for the 4th place. 2 points each against Sunderland, Swansea, Stoke, Norwich and Blackburn and 3 against Wigan, I make it 13 points. Add 13 points to what we've got now and it makes 55, the same as Spurs. That's without asking anything major, just beat the teams down the bottom at home, surely that should be nailed on?

Sterling: If his goal scoring is as prolific as his sperm, he's one to watch. (Two girls pregnant at 17, if you didn't know!)

While players have picked and chosen which games they were going to bother with this year, the Carling Cup run, and subsequent FA Cup run has seen players look uninterested, with half an eye on the up coming cup tie.  The fact Liverpool have won the Carling Cup, and got some silverware in the bag, is a good thing, something that was badly needed, and as Kenny keeps saying, an improvement on previous seasons. The fact he hasn't gone trophy-less after spending a lot of money will help him buy some time, papering over the poor league performances, for now. So realistically, this season is over. Surely it's time to bring in players Dalglish identified in the youth set up during his years there. Shelvey, Sterling, Adorjan, Ecclestone, Suso and Adam Morgan all look like good prospects, and might as well get a crack while there isn't much to play for in the Premiership. 

The Carling Cup has certainly bought King Kenny some time.

Let's get one thing straight here, I'm suggesting the following, and something that's open to debate, not my opinion, just a theoretical possibility! So, based on league performances, and without a Carling Cup which nobody else is too bothered about, Kenny would be looking straight down the barrel. hard to say for someone who is undoubtedly a club legend, and will remain so, but true. It's hard to imagine, after giving the club the club would the new owners sack King Kenny?  Surely that would rile the fans and turn the situation back to chaos, which reigned supreme when Hicks and Gillett had the club. Then we are back to square one again! 

So is it time for Kenny to say he's taken the club as far as he can, through the rebuilding stage, and leave the rest to someone else? Given the type of bloke he seems to be, personally I can't see him stepping down after just 18 months. He's spent a lot of money and I'm sure he'd want to prove himself right with those players. If he did step down, who would you bring in? Mourinho wouldn't leave Real for Liverpool, despite wanting to return to England, no Champions League football being a key factor. We've seen what happens with someone who may be a good coach but has no real persona (see Hodgeson) so who could you bring in? The fans would want someone who would continue the progress and has the right persona for LFC. 

One man has made it clear he wants to return to the Premier League, he also has the respect of LFC fans and players. His altercations with the previous ownership lead to his lack of belief which undoubtedly passed on to his players and affected performances. It also wouldn't rock the boat too much...Rafa anyone?

Rafa with Big Ears, looking very much like Nasser Hussain!

What's on your mind?

The master of the 'art'? 

It's become part of everyone's life, what is on your mind? It's become a key part of Facebook, when you update your status, they ask you what's on your mind. It's this time of the year, anyone with a football team near the top of the league, starts telling the world what is on his mind. 

Welcome back to Manchester Carlos, after a few months off in Argentina!

Roberto Mancini (via Patrick Vieira) and Alex Ferguson have traded blows today, as the slanging matches begin for the run in of the Premier League season. Jibes will fly back and forth until one team lifts the trophy and puts a lid on things for the summer. Is it squeeky-bum-time that brings out the sly insults that managers start to put into the press conferences around this time of season, or is it a sign on not having faith in your side? Whichever the answer, it happens year on year, and nobody seems to realise, it's tough to beat Alex Ferguson at mind-games. 


Rafa Benitez made a bit of a tit of himself when he took out his list of facts that irked him about 'Mr Ferguson'. Amusing viewing, and with hindsight, he made himself look like a bit of a mug. Had Liverpool won the title that year, I'm sure it would have been labelled a masterstroke. He'd have been the one who rocked Fergie, the one who found holes in his defense, and ultimately lead Liverpool to their 19th title. That however, was (as we all know) not the case. Kevin Keegan's rant will also go down in Premier League folklore, no need for me to remind you how much he'd have loved it, but they didn't win the title that year did they? United did.

Why do people take on Fergie? He's a seasoned campaigner, he knows what to say and when to say it, and has won more titles than anyone, so why take him on? Keep quiet, and let him do the talking, it might throw him if he hasn't got someone to berate in the press. Let your team do the talking on the pitch!


To me, it the first stage of admitting your team isn't good enough, and that you've got to get one over on your opposite number to make sure your side ends up with the silverware at the end of the season, because you don't think your players can do it. If you think your squad of players is better than their squad of players, then you'll end up with trophy no matter what you or the other manager says in the press. Whether bringing Carlos Tevez or Paul Scholes back from their varying spells on the sideline is desperate or not, doesn't really make much difference does it? Also, who cares if you are desperate, if I was a manager, I'd be desperate to win the title too, be it my club's 1st or 20th. 

If they had have won it, he might have got a job for McDonalds...ba-da-ba-ba-ba

But once someone tells the world what's on their mind, it begins, and it doesn't end. Prepare yourself for constant updates on the Fergie v Mancini row, which will culminate in one manager 'out witting' the other. Ultimately, it will come down to who's side puts in the best performances, with a little bit of luck, and probably an odd refereeing decision, rather than what is said to the press. Hopefully it will be City too! 

Away Goals - Is it really worth it?

As the Chelsea - Napoli game ticked into extra time, it raised one of the most unfair rules in football to the fore. It also got me thinking about the away goals rule as a whole and whether it really works. Back to the unfair nature of the away goals rule first, it's pretty simple. Napoli tonight had 120 minutes to score an away goal compared with Chelsea's 90 minutes in Naples. Simply by virtue of which ball came out of the hat first. I understand that playing at home in the second leg and having the crowd behind you can make a difference, but the amount of time you can have to score a goal which can count double is simply unfair. I'm not a Chelsea fan by any means, but it wouldn't have been fair if they'd have been dumped out in the final minutes of extra time tonight.  

Juan Mata bags Chelsea's away goal in Naples.

That said, it led me to question whether the away goals rule is actually an effective one. Years ago, before I started watching football, the rule was introduced, to encourage sides to go forward away from home in Europe. Teams regularly went away from home in European competitions over two-legs and 'parked the team bus' to coin a phrase from Mr Mourinho. If you went away from home, you were delighted to go into the second leg on the back of a boring 0-0. So the rule was introduced, to give you an advantage if the game ends in a draw but you've scored more away goals. A good introduction on the face of things...or so you'd think.

Marseille's away goal takes them through in the San Siro last night.

What's happened though, is a role reversal, although tonight's game isn't a great example with both home teams winning the game comfortably. Many teams are cautious at home, being wary of conceding that vital away goal. It's up to the home side  in the first leg to back themselves and try and win the game, but only if you are 100% confident you are better than the opposition or the opposition play poorly on your patch, can you take the chances and go forward. 

Would it make a different if the rule was scrapped? Would the shift go back to defensive away sides rather than home sides? Does the psychological advantage of having to have a go at home make the rule worthwhile? Is there a way to make sure neither side is edging on the side of cautiousness in a two legged tie? Probably not. There is always going to be an advantage which ever way it works. I think I'm just verging on the side of it being a rule which works, but should NOT count after extra time as 120 minutes vs 90 to get an away goal, is simply unfair. 

Four Minute Plan

QPR's Four Year Plan comes together, 2 years later than it could have been.

If you didn't see it, QPR: The Four Year Plan (click the link to watch it on iPlayer) aired last night on BBC2 after Match of the Day 2. It gave an incredible insight into the boardroom level of a football club, one you don't see often, especially with the complex set ups and foreign ownership we've become accustomed to in modern football. 


As I say, the focus was on the very top of QPR, with little in the way of manager/dressing room action but it still made very interesting viewing. When within the first two minutes of the documentary, Flavio Briatore (then part owner) of The R's blurts out "I hate this f**king forward, I'm going to sell him!" you knew it was going to be a little bit different to the match-by-match textbook answers trotted out by players and managers alike. 

Briatore explains to Ecclestone where he'd have passed the ball...

It also highlighted other things so evident football now. Fickle fans are everywhere, and I mean everywhere. From top to bottom, from loyal to armchair fans. When things are going well the same people who want rid of the board one minute, are the ones who are are telling the owners they are the best thing since sliced bread as they walk into the plush executive suites. QPR fans were outside Loftus Road singing songs about Briatore being a w**ker and "4 year plan, you're having a laugh!". But look at where they are now, inside 4 years they had the promotion to the Premiership they all wanted. Leaving all those fans with egg on their face. Mind they're probably at Loftus Road now singing something completely different. That's if they can afford the £60 for a ticket!!

Time runs out for AVB; either that or AVB is crouched down again!

The other, and most relevant point was the revolving door managers have to endure with owners who think they are playing a game of Football Manager. On the same day Andre Villas-Boas was sacked by Abramovich, his 7th manager since taking over Chelsea, Briatore underlined first hand the crazy tactics some owners employ. The programme shows him at a reserve's game, telling Iain Dowie to tell the reserve manager which subs to make and to tell them to get the ball to a certain player, because he wanted to see what they are like. He might as well have had the tracksuit on himself, and stood in the technical area he made that many commands. It's not what you'd think John W Henry does with Kenny Dalglish or The Glazers do with Fergie! 


Unsurprisingly, their best success came when they got a manager, Neil Warnock, and stuck with him. They had employed Dowie, Paul Hart, Paulo Sousa and Jim Magilton, with caretakers in between, before Warnock took command of the sinking ship. Maybe a lesson Chelsea could learn from this programme was to stick with a manager for a while, rather than chopping and changing and ending back at square one over and over again. 


While QPR had that in common with their London neighbours Chelsea, how they flashed the cash didn't. Briatore, Bernie Ecclestone and Lakshmi Mittal, all multi-billionaire's and joint owners of QPR refused to spend the cash they could clearly afford to. Instead it showed them scrimping and saving cash wherever possible, cutting the money they spent on sandwiches and flowers on a match day. That was all to fund investment in players, players which would eventually get them promoted to the Premier League. With so much money in their pockets, these men could have done that without saving a few hundred quid here and there. 

A typically passionate Warnock while at QPR.

Whether the success was down to the board changing their approach to their manager and sticking with Warnock, or whether it was Warnock's managerial prowess that engineered QPR's promotion, it may even have been a combination of the two, it worked, in the end. Having seen the approach from the owners in the beginning, and my bias to Warnock having got Scarborough promoted to the old money Division 3, I know where I'd have had my money on the influencing factor. Eventually they got there, but at times the four year plan, looked like a four minute plan, and would have been a 2 year plan if they'd have played it right from the start, rather than 2 years in!

Clinical Difference

van Persie celebrates his Anfield winner with Bacary Sanga

This weekends big matches further exemplified how vital it is to be clinical at the very top level. While Robin van Persie's singled handed heroics snatched 3 points from Anfield, Ashley Young's precision made for a more comfortable acquisition of the points for Manchester United at White Hart Lane, despite being on the back foot for the majority of the game.


Saturday's lunchtime kick off almost proved enough on it's own, and highlighted the continuing problem faced by Liverpool, especially on their own patch. In a stark contrasts, Liverpool created and spurned several chances in front of goal, while van Persie took his two chances with aplomb. The precision and ability to take his two chances, ultimately decided the game, in which Arsenal showed very little creativity in comparison to their counterparts. It is something Liverpool have failed to do across the whole season. From the lower placed teams to the ones at the top, Liverpool have failed to convert chances in the way RVP did on Saturday, and it's cost them dear. 

Liverpool rue their failure to finish of Norwich

From Norwich to Manchester United, the failure to convert opportunities into goals has defined the season. Add 2 points onto the games they should have won at home and they'd be up there with Spurs in the Champions League places. But that's the point isn't it? They haven't been clinical enough, and results haven't come as a consequence.

Young punishes Spurs to make it 3-0 with a fantastic finish.

Spurs against Manchester United exaggerated the point further this Sunday tea time. Spurs arguably had the majority of the game (57%), and dominated the ball over Man Utd. However, there was nothing clinical from Spurs. There was no cutting edge. No spark. Conversely, Man Utd had 6 shots at goal, 5 hit the target and 3 found the back of the net. Spurs had 18 attempts, 9 on target, with only 1 beating de Gea. Ashley Young's scissor-kick volley, then cut inside and curled shot into the top corner, highlighted the clinical nature the top teams have. They took their half chances, with great technique and put their opposition to bed.


Other teams may not have had the players to take them opportunities that van Persie and Young did today, and therefore won't pick up the points they should have done, or their team performance may have deserved. It also highlighted how much Spurs miss their most clinical player in front of goal, Gareth Bale. 


Gary Neville also pointed out how failure to be clinical without the ball can be as important as with it. (On a side note, despite me despising him as a player of a rival team, I've become a fan of his punditry. It still makes me slightly nauseous seeing his face on the TV, but his punditry is solid.) It may be tough on Kyle Walker with the pundit in the studio a former right back of one of the most successful sides to have played in English football, but Neville highlighted how his lack of defensive concentration and experience is the reason why he and Micah Richards found it hard to break into the right back role for the national side under Capello. Walker's lack of clinical performance lead to, or had a hand in all three Manchester United goals. At the top level, against the top players, that slight mistake can lead to defeat as proven today.