Tough decisions should be taken at Anfield, but that does not stop them from being the right ones, writes Mal James.
A few weeks ago, Jay Spearing made public comments to the effect that he felt he ‘deserved’ a place in the Liverpool team.
This shows a profound problem at Liverpool. Spearing would never get anywhere near a first-team place at City, United, Chelsea, Spurs or Arsenal; and probably not Newcastle. So, if this very ordinary player ‘deserves’ a place in the Liverpool team, it shows the extent of the club’s slide.
Contrast this with Andy Carroll. Despite spending much of the season warming the bench, he has kept his mouth shut and got down to working hard. He’ll never be £35m worth of player, but he has developed into a dangerous one who does deserve his place in the team.
And here we see the real problem at Liverpool. Under Shankly, Paisley, or, more recently, Benitez, Spearing would have been put in his place for sounding off like this.
He’d have probably been shown the door. Under the present manager, he was given a starting place in a negative FA Cup final team; to gift the opposition a goal, while Carroll was sitting on the bench.
And look at the performance of this team throughout the whole of the season. The worst in years, despite a significant amount of money spent.
Increasing numbers of Liverpool fans are disenchanted with ‘King Kenny’. Yet a very vocal (so it’s difficult to guess how significant) number, still support him.
On the Liverpool fan websites, critical posts are countered with claims that the writer is ‘disloyal’, or ‘doesn’t understand football’; or that the club had ‘improved’ and the (now tiresome) quoting of statistics of hitting the woodwork to prove how ‘unlucky’ the team has been.
The responses usually finish with ‘YNWA’ – to somehow prove the writer’s credentials as a ‘real’ Liverpool fan.
I’ve commented before that the owners have a problem. Do they give the manager more time? The likelihood of a top four finish next season is remote.
More and more fans are beginning to think that Comolli took the rap for two people. Apart from the shrinking number of Dalglish fans, and the manager himself, who insist that the club is on course; nobody believes that the current squad is good enough to finish above any of this season’s top six next time around.
The owners are not likely to give him significant funds to potentially waste again. So should they now bite the bullet? If the current manager is not now prepared to stand down, should they give him no option?
Whatever happens, Liverpool fans will have to accept that the squad needs rebuilding and it will take time. Yes, the first team on its day can play very well, but there is no strength in depth.
It’s more strength in shallow. It is unlikely that Gerrard will ever be the player he was, and, apart from him, there is no real creativity in midfield. There is no width. The money that was made available for squad building has been criminally wasted.
Henderson might make it, but the idea that a team that regularly gives places to players such as Adam, or Downing can challenge is laughable.
The club will not attract a big name manager. Who would take on an overpaid and weak squad with few funds to rebuild?
Any new manager will have to start almost from scratch and build slowly. But it has to be done.
image: © banoootah_qtr
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