Dancing Past Wolves

The transformation of Liverpool Football Club under Kenny Dalglish has been nothing short of amazing.
Barely a month ago, Liverpool succumbed to a rather lifeless and embarrassing defeat to Wolves at Anfield, and lets not make any suggestions of it being 'just an off night', i was present, Wolves did little more than they did on Saturday, and yet where able to walk away with 3 points. That pretty much sums up how poor Liverpool were on that cold December night.

But one month on, and watching Liverpool play is a joy to behold.

Pass and move he said, pass - and - move, its the Liverpool way. Yet many in the media, the so called experts where quick to voice concerns over Kenny Dalglish's ability to instill this into the team and remarked that things had changed since the King's playing and managerial days at Anfield, with the underlying message seeming to be that his old philosophy would not work. Hope they where watching Sunday! Pass and move is, as has been said many times before, the 'fabric' of the game, why should this notion be any different to Liverpool FC. Ok so we have been used to slow build up from the back, passing backwards and sideways then back again just to move forwards over recent years, but in barely a month that has all changed for the good.

The Liverpool performance against Wolves was not perfect, at times there was a tendency to just sit back a bit, play a few hurried passes/clearances, BUT, it was a very accomplished and complete performance from the reds who where well worth the 3 points and who where by no means flattered by the scoreline. And the third goal sums up how far the team has come this month, 30 passes, yes 30! I'll say 30 because i don't think the ball to Torres could be described as a pass, but whether you say 30 or 31 its still more than the 2 or 3 that club has struggled to put together for some time.

In my last post after the Derby i addressed the negativity and criticism of Raul Meireles, and i said it was all rubbish, even the best make mistakes and i said then that his mistakes where down to being a little more confident than his team mates, many of whom have endured a long and hard 18months at the club, and i said that with everyone up for the fight and singing from the same song sheet, his effectiveness and creativity would gain him universal praise, rather than criticism. Told you so! He was immense in midfield, a real general leading by example and i think it will continue for some time, arguably our best buy for a considerable amount of time.

Fernando Torres looks like the fresh faced menace that terrorised the Premier League from 2007-2009 and that is down to the belief and confidence that Kenny Dalglish has given him, 3 goals in 4 games under the King and long may it continue. But it is the whole team, the much criticised Poulsen gave a good performance, Reina as always was superb and Martin Kelly looks in no danger of losing his starting place any time soon. This post would be a mile long if i had to praise each player for their contribution individually, so i'll have to just have to leave it there with some selected highlights! But it was a team performance and the team was superb.

So much has changed in the team this month and as its transfer window time it wouldn't be fair to ignore the possibilities. Charlie Adam is a decent midfielder, and £4m is fair price for his services considering Blackpool played £500k for his services, but LFC have alot of midfielders and this area of the team is not a priority, and with Keisuke Honda also being linked with a move to LFC for around £10m it comes down to a choice really and also money i suppose, but out of the two i would rather have Honda than Adam, and any suggestion from Holloway that it would take a two figure sum to land Adam is delusional, i cant see any team willing to pay more than £6m and the hard line stance of the manager will probably mean that Adam will go nowhere.

Luis Suarez, please please please! The way Liverpool are playing under Dalglish will suit Suarez down to the ground and i think he would really compliment the reds newly discovered style of play. It is a long time since a potential signing captured the imagination of the LFC fan base and i really hope that the deal goes through, it would be a crime to miss out on him.

The way LFC and NESV have operated in this transfer is refreshing, we are no longer being bullied over price and if the reports are true it is LFC that are doing all the bullying, i think it will be a long time before we are bullied into paying over the odds for a player. Consider Adam, i don't think the club will pay the two figure sum that Blackpool want, but in times gone by the club might have folded and just paid whatever the other club wanted. I also think contract terms and wages etc will now be more strict under the new ownership which will only help the club in moving forwards, we'll get real value for the money we pay.

I hope the last stretch of the window goes favourably for the reds and i look forwards with excitement to the future ahead.

The team are playing well, they were superb against Wolves and the future looks good, a first win under the King, Fulham to come, hopefully another 3 points too, but a performance like Saturday will go a long way to making those 3 points a reality!

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Take care folks!