Liverpool are on a bad run of form, and the blows just keep landing on their manager. Can he recover?
Last week Kenny Dalglish said Liverpool were going to try to win all of their last 10 Premier League games and reach the top four.
Then they were beaten by QPR and Wigan Athletic and he was left with egg on his face.
Now former player Faustino Asprilla has stuck the boot in, branding him ‘the man who destroyed the entertainers’ at Newcastle United.
With Liverpool set to travel to Newcastle this weekend, his record on Tyneside will be further under the spotlight, with his reputation taking a battering.
It has been a difficult year for the manager, his expensive signings have not worked out, and he has had to contend with the Luis Suarez racial abuse allegation, which saw him criticised personally for his management of the affair, offering an apology through the club’s website.
The pressure has been further cranked up this week by midfielder Charlie Adam being ruled out for the season, and former manager Rafa Benitez also commenting yesterday that he would like to take back the reigns at the club in the future.
Dalglish’s odds on not being in charge at the start of next season have also been slashed by bookies this week, down from 50/1 in January to just 7/1.
Even the one big positive point from earlier this month, Liverpool’s 3-0 win and Merseyside dominance over Everton, is now under threat.
With the Toffees booking their Wembley semi-final spot against the Reds, Liverpool’s two wins over Everton this season will count for nothing if they lose.
It may be an exaggeration to say Dalglish’s Liverpool future depends on the semi-final, the club’s board are a patient bunch and not kneejerk Russian oligarchs, ready to fire a manager at the drop of a hat.
But their season, and Dalglish’s first full one in charge, will be defined by the result. Win, and go onto their second Wembley final of the season, and they will have a chance to erase pain of their Premier League form with an FA Cup win.
Lose, and he will have to cling onto a scraped Carling Cup penalty win over Cardiff City as sign of progress, and will have to spend the whole summer in the shadow of gloating Evertonians.
Liverpool fans – and Dalglish himself- will hope this, right now, is the lowest point of the season, and it is onwards and upwards from here.
But with the next game an away trip to Newcastle, a side eight points above them, doing so may not be so simple.
Can Liverpool get a win at St James’ this weekend?
images: © kong niffe, © kevinzim
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