With the Mancs’ victory over Chelsea, I suppose congratulations are in order for Michael Owen. He richly deserves a Premiership winners’ medal having started a whole 1 Premiership match for the Mancs (in which he was subbed at half time) and made a further 9 appearances as substitute enabling him to tot up a massive 201 minutes of first team football excluding stoppage time (which for United is quite a bit).
I should imagine that as an ambitious teenager breaking into the Liverpool first team, he expected to win the League at some point in his career but probably envisaged himself contributing more than a solitary goal towards the achievement.
Of course, this isn’t Owen’s achievement at all. Man United would have won the League whether he was on their books or not.
He’ll take his medal though and, based on the tripe in his autobiography, he’ll probably try to justify it by saying he deserved at least one over his career. That’s the nature of the man who left Liverpool at the start of a season they would end as European Champions because he thought they couldn’t match his ambition, and who abdicated himself of responsibility whilst jumping ship after captaining Newcastle to relegation giving a minimal return for the club record £16m they paid to take him off the Real Madrid subs bench.
The hero of St Etienne (for England fans at least) was once viewed as so much whiter than white that he was paid to star in Persil adverts. How ironic that the supporters of the club he represented back then would come to view him as so dirty and sullied.
Having once been hailed as a role model for kids, what message can young fans take as they watch Owen parade the Premiership trophy in a week or so? Something along the lines of: If you want to win the top prizes, all you have to do is urinate on the thousands of supporters that loyally backed you for seven years as you went from youth trainee to international superstar; give them big ‘V’s as you join their most detested rivals talking about the respect and admiration you have for their gob-shite of a manager; spend a couple of years not playing football; rack up the all important 10 appearances, ideally without ever playing longer than 45 minutes, to ensure you can win a medal via a technicality and hope your teammates can do the business.
In Owen’s career he represented Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle and the Scum. The supporters of Liverpool and Newcastle generally despise him. Real fans and United fans will barely remember him.
He could and should have been a Liverpool legend but instead he will be remembered for being on the books of the Man United team that overtook our record of 18 League titles and willed them to do it for his own personal gain.
Enjoy your winners’ medal, Michael. I hope it was worth it.
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Saturday, 7 May 2011
Dalglish: Manager of the Year
Roy Hodgson's last game as Liverpool FC's manager was the defeat at Blackburn on 05.01.2011. That left Liverpool in 12th - a lofty position given the positions occupied for most of Roy's ill-fated reign - with a goal difference of -3.
Today's League table shows Liverpool in 6th place, 1 point below Spurs who have yet to visit Anfield. Barring a total collapse by Man City and a flawless run-in for Liverpool, the Champions League places appear to be out of reach but being best of the rest is a strong possibility. This is amazing given that for long spells before Christmas relegation was a scarily real possibility.
This is the League table excluding all results prior to 06.01.2011.
Since Kenny Dalglish was appointed caretaker manager, only Carlo Ancelotti has managed to win more Premiership points. Dalglish has picked up more points than Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Roberto Mancini and [cough!] Harry Redknapp. No team has scored more goals than Liverpool in this period. Only Chelsea have conceded fewer. Given the relative strengths of Liverpool's and Chelsea's squads, it is to be expected that Chelsea should reap more points than us but the same is true of Man Utd, Man City and Spurs.
None of those teams have been as hard hit by injuries as Liverpool with Gerrard barely playing under Kenny and injuries to the likes of Carragher, Aurelio, Kelly, Aurelio, Agger, Aurelio, Johnson, Aurelio and Carroll, not to mention squad players like Ngog, Shelvey, Cole and Aurelio. None of those teams had to sell their star striker on the last day of the transfer window.
And on the 5th January when Hodgson led Liverpool to a 9th League defeat of the season, the top 5 in the League were Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea so none of these managers had to pick up a team so lacking in form and confidence at the same time as Kenny.
What Kenny has done is quite simply alchemy. He has turned lead into gold. He has somehow managed to get his under-strength and unbalanced team to outperform far more expensively assembled outfits.
Let's be clear, we are talking about the Manager of Year. Of course the LMA will vote for someone with Ferguson's jizz round his mouth instead but after the experience of having last year's LMA Manager of the Year in charge at Anfield, I won't complain if we don't begin next season with the LMA prize winner at the helm.
Kenny Dalglish IS the Manager of the Year and more importantly, is the right man to lead Liverpool into a new era. King Kenny, I salute you.
Today's League table shows Liverpool in 6th place, 1 point below Spurs who have yet to visit Anfield. Barring a total collapse by Man City and a flawless run-in for Liverpool, the Champions League places appear to be out of reach but being best of the rest is a strong possibility. This is amazing given that for long spells before Christmas relegation was a scarily real possibility.
This is the League table excluding all results prior to 06.01.2011.
Since Kenny Dalglish was appointed caretaker manager, only Carlo Ancelotti has managed to win more Premiership points. Dalglish has picked up more points than Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Roberto Mancini and [cough!] Harry Redknapp. No team has scored more goals than Liverpool in this period. Only Chelsea have conceded fewer. Given the relative strengths of Liverpool's and Chelsea's squads, it is to be expected that Chelsea should reap more points than us but the same is true of Man Utd, Man City and Spurs.
None of those teams have been as hard hit by injuries as Liverpool with Gerrard barely playing under Kenny and injuries to the likes of Carragher, Aurelio, Kelly, Aurelio, Agger, Aurelio, Johnson, Aurelio and Carroll, not to mention squad players like Ngog, Shelvey, Cole and Aurelio. None of those teams had to sell their star striker on the last day of the transfer window.
And on the 5th January when Hodgson led Liverpool to a 9th League defeat of the season, the top 5 in the League were Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea so none of these managers had to pick up a team so lacking in form and confidence at the same time as Kenny.
What Kenny has done is quite simply alchemy. He has turned lead into gold. He has somehow managed to get his under-strength and unbalanced team to outperform far more expensively assembled outfits.
Let's be clear, we are talking about the Manager of Year. Of course the LMA will vote for someone with Ferguson's jizz round his mouth instead but after the experience of having last year's LMA Manager of the Year in charge at Anfield, I won't complain if we don't begin next season with the LMA prize winner at the helm.
Kenny Dalglish IS the Manager of the Year and more importantly, is the right man to lead Liverpool into a new era. King Kenny, I salute you.
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Thoughts on Carra and Kenny
As someone who was firmly in the ‘faze Carra out’ camp for much of the season, I have to say my opinion has changed based on what I have seen recently.
While never questioning his defensive qualities, a lot of my frustrations with him (leaving ‘political’ issues aside) stemmed from his negative and often ineffective style of play when on the ball. As a footballer, he essentially has 3 ‘skills’ in his regular armoury: back pass to Reina, sideways pass (usually to Skrtel or full-back) and long pass (usually to opposition). [I emphasise the word ‘regular’ as I know it is a simplistic view.] At one point during the West Brom game, I actually howled in frustration when, as I knew he would, around the half-way line under very little pressure he put his foot on the ball, turned and played a long pass back to Reina.
That game was a perfect example of everything that frustrates me about Carra but it has to be acknowledged he was playing at right-back in a back four comprised (after the injuries to Johnson and Agger) of four centre-halves all of whom could be best described as ‘stoppers’ as opposed to being ‘ball-playing’ centre-halves (e.g. Agger).
Since that game, Kenny has deployed genuine full-backs on both sides of the pitch and moved Carra back into the centre. This has reduced the team’s dependency on Carra to play progressive football as there are others around him who can bring the ball forward and support the attack. Meanwhile, Carra has been allowed to focus on what he is good (if not better than good) at: defending and organising the defence.
The way he has helped the likes of Flanagan through games has been absolutely superb and he himself has not put a foot wrong. Even Skrtel has looked a million miles better alongside him.
In conclusion, I think that Carra is NOT a full-back and needs to be played in the centre of a back four with genuine full-backs either side of him. If we do that, we will get the best out of him and others.
Going off on a tangent, I believe that WBA game was a watershed moment for Kenny (and Steve Clarke). Having lost Kelly and with Aurelio already injured, the ‘obvious’ solution was to play a centre-half [Carra] out of position at full-back. When Johnson then pulled up lame, the ‘obvious’ solution was to switch Agger (who has played left-back previously under both Rafa and Roy) to full-back and bring on an established and experienced first team player in Kyrgiakos. When Agger went off injured, the ‘obvious’ solution was to bring on Wilson at left-back given his first team experience at Rangers and also his recent experience of playing on the left for Liverpool this season. These moves were so obvious Roy Hodgson would have made them.
I am certain that the footballing limitations of that back four contributed to the dreadful performance and result at the Hawthorns while Kyrgiakos was directly at fault for both Baggies’ goals. With Man City coming to Anfield followed by a trip to the Emirates in the next two fixtures, the ‘obvious’ solution would have been to stick with experienced first team players.
What Kenny and Steve did was bring in Flanagan. Better to play an inexperienced full-back at full-back than try to slot a square peg in a round hole. When Aurelio broke down at the Emirates, the management team had the choice of bringing on a third centre-half and playing one of them out of position or bringing on a 17-year old full-back. They chose to slot a round peg in the round hole and it worked.
It is clear that they saw what went wrong at the Hawthorns and learned from it. Their response was to make brave decisions in-keeping with their footballing principles which have really paid off.
We’ve had to listen to idiots like Jamie Redknapp trivialising Kenny’s role in orchestrating our mid-season revival putting it down to players ‘smiling more’ and ‘having belief’ as though Kenny’s sole contribution has been to charm and motivate. The longer he has been in post, the more I have seen that his success has been down to using the right players in the right positions and getting them to play the right way.
Everything else about Kenny is the perfect fit for the role of Liverpool manager but I had nagging doubts about his tactical knowledge and ability. In that respect he has removed any doubts. That is why I believe that Kenny should be appointed permanent manager.
While never questioning his defensive qualities, a lot of my frustrations with him (leaving ‘political’ issues aside) stemmed from his negative and often ineffective style of play when on the ball. As a footballer, he essentially has 3 ‘skills’ in his regular armoury: back pass to Reina, sideways pass (usually to Skrtel or full-back) and long pass (usually to opposition). [I emphasise the word ‘regular’ as I know it is a simplistic view.] At one point during the West Brom game, I actually howled in frustration when, as I knew he would, around the half-way line under very little pressure he put his foot on the ball, turned and played a long pass back to Reina.
That game was a perfect example of everything that frustrates me about Carra but it has to be acknowledged he was playing at right-back in a back four comprised (after the injuries to Johnson and Agger) of four centre-halves all of whom could be best described as ‘stoppers’ as opposed to being ‘ball-playing’ centre-halves (e.g. Agger).
Since that game, Kenny has deployed genuine full-backs on both sides of the pitch and moved Carra back into the centre. This has reduced the team’s dependency on Carra to play progressive football as there are others around him who can bring the ball forward and support the attack. Meanwhile, Carra has been allowed to focus on what he is good (if not better than good) at: defending and organising the defence.
The way he has helped the likes of Flanagan through games has been absolutely superb and he himself has not put a foot wrong. Even Skrtel has looked a million miles better alongside him.
In conclusion, I think that Carra is NOT a full-back and needs to be played in the centre of a back four with genuine full-backs either side of him. If we do that, we will get the best out of him and others.
Going off on a tangent, I believe that WBA game was a watershed moment for Kenny (and Steve Clarke). Having lost Kelly and with Aurelio already injured, the ‘obvious’ solution was to play a centre-half [Carra] out of position at full-back. When Johnson then pulled up lame, the ‘obvious’ solution was to switch Agger (who has played left-back previously under both Rafa and Roy) to full-back and bring on an established and experienced first team player in Kyrgiakos. When Agger went off injured, the ‘obvious’ solution was to bring on Wilson at left-back given his first team experience at Rangers and also his recent experience of playing on the left for Liverpool this season. These moves were so obvious Roy Hodgson would have made them.
I am certain that the footballing limitations of that back four contributed to the dreadful performance and result at the Hawthorns while Kyrgiakos was directly at fault for both Baggies’ goals. With Man City coming to Anfield followed by a trip to the Emirates in the next two fixtures, the ‘obvious’ solution would have been to stick with experienced first team players.
What Kenny and Steve did was bring in Flanagan. Better to play an inexperienced full-back at full-back than try to slot a square peg in a round hole. When Aurelio broke down at the Emirates, the management team had the choice of bringing on a third centre-half and playing one of them out of position or bringing on a 17-year old full-back. They chose to slot a round peg in the round hole and it worked.
It is clear that they saw what went wrong at the Hawthorns and learned from it. Their response was to make brave decisions in-keeping with their footballing principles which have really paid off.
We’ve had to listen to idiots like Jamie Redknapp trivialising Kenny’s role in orchestrating our mid-season revival putting it down to players ‘smiling more’ and ‘having belief’ as though Kenny’s sole contribution has been to charm and motivate. The longer he has been in post, the more I have seen that his success has been down to using the right players in the right positions and getting them to play the right way.
Everything else about Kenny is the perfect fit for the role of Liverpool manager but I had nagging doubts about his tactical knowledge and ability. In that respect he has removed any doubts. That is why I believe that Kenny should be appointed permanent manager.
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