When Hodgson got the sack after a short stint at Liverpool many believed that regardless of the manager, Liverpool were in decline. In recent times, having had well publicised off-field issues, Kenny Dalglish will at least bring the sense of honour and winning mentality back to the club. With a tough start at United, only made worse by losing the talismanic Gerrard for a vicious foul that could only be described as an attempt to fire up his players, Liverpool certainly look lost. Having lost to Blackpool midweek serious questions were asked wether King Kenny would be able to salvage anything from a season that has seen many teams, not just Liverpool, drop points all over the country. Having left Liverpool after a 4-4 draw against Everton after his first managing role there it had been suggested that after many years out of the game he would not be able to have the same effect that he had before. Having had league success with Blackburn after Liverpool, one thing is for certain, he certainly knows how to win trophies. Given the time Hodgson had to build his own team I can only see Liverpool progressing. Such is the respect Dalglish owns at Anfield all the players will be out to show the legend what they can offer to the club. Knowing football inside out will give Dalglish the tactical presence of mind that can only be a positive and Liverpool fans should take faith in the improvement shown against Everton. The players already seemed more confident and had a much better tempo and effort than under Hodgson, and apart from 10 minutes of dreadful defending, a game that ended 2-2 should really have been Kennys first win back.
The Liverpool v Everton derby, the most dirty in English football, was one of 3 derbies today, all of which ended in a draw. 3 games of great quality saw the Liverpool derby, Tyneside derby (Sunderland v Newcastle) and the Midlands derby (Aston Villa v Birmingham) result in fans over the country create the atmosphere that we all love in football when rivals play each other. With 1 point gained for each of the teams I feel that Villa fans can have every right to be unhappy given the performance and effort their players put in. Having hit the bar 4 times during the game you would feel that the 3 points was going to come but to be fair to Birmingham they took the lead and the game finished very closely. Things at Villa Park mirror the problems at Liverpool, a new manager having just taken over. Performances from the Villa players have, however, been pleasing but the results just havent gone their way. There was heartache for Newcastle fans as a late goal from Gyan denied them doing the double over Sunderland for the season, although im sure the 5 goals they scored past them in the 1st game goes some way to dealing with that late equaliser.
At the end of the season I simply cannot see Liverpool down at that end of the table, along with Aston Villa. Teams above are seen as lower reputation teams and to their credit have played incredibly in the first half of the season, to note a few, Blackpool, Bolton and Sunderland. However over the course of the season I just cant see them staying in these high league positions and soon the bigger clubs will start to settle and the results will come with that. Im 100% sure that King Kenny will soon have Liverpool occupying a higher position and with a few new additions this transfer window, things will only be getting better.
No comments:
Post a Comment