Reds On Track

Just over a week since Kenny Dalglish returned to Liverpool Football club, a week?? seems a lot longer than that to me.

And the main reason for that is probably the rapid transformation of the club in such a short space of time. The game against Blackburn, a game that saw an awful performance from the reds in every area, a game which ultimately proved to be the final nail in Roy Hodgsons coffin, is (at the time of writing) not even 2 weeks old and already much has changed.

The supporters have been well and truely lifted, the affect that Kenny Dalglish has had could not have been achieved by any other living person. There is optimism, belief, unity, and that's just the supporters. The players do not look in any way shape or form like the players who capitulated at Ewood Park, and for so long this season have been below par.

There is a real attacking intent, the players believe that they can do it, the manager knows they can do it and the supporters are right behind them. And it is all down to the King.

Look at Torres, suffered with injuries last season and in the summer, this season he has been fit for a considerable amount of time, more so than he had been at this stage last season, but he looked completely dejected, he had lost his way, showing only flashes of what he's capable of, and those flashes few and far between. Hodgson's line on Nando was that he was lacking confidence, not fully fit, or he simply couldn't explain the reason for his lack of form. Perhaps the reason was the managers lack of ambition, his methods, his team talks, the way he carried himself, the transfer targets that he set himself?? I wouldn't want to play up front with Carlton Cole down the local park never mind at Englands greatest club. In comes Dalglish and Torres immediately moves to dismiss any suggestion of him leaving, he looks sharper against Utd, scored a goal against Blackpool that had been beyond him all season, and ran rings around the Everton defence. He looks sharper, he's running at defenders, he's tracking back and chasing down, he's pressing players when he's off the ball, and this is all in ONE week, only thing that had changed was the manager.

And the same can be said for the whole team, Martin Kelly has been superb and he is well worth his place, the only time i want to see Johnson back at right back is if Kelly is injured or suspended, like i've said before i don't see Johnson as a defender, he should be out on the wing helping with the attacking, his defending lets him down, but he has improved. Heard alot of talk about Meireles not being good enough, makes too many mistakes etc etc. All players make mistakes, he's a very creative player, he is trying to be creative all the time, his confidence is up and he is becoming a real threat to the opposition. Once the entire team is singing from the same song sheet and their understanding of each other in the new style of play we have adopted improves, the mistakes will be fewer and far between. His goal against the bitters was well taken and fully deserved and i know for fact that had we won the game there would have been very little talk of any mistakes he might have made, and any talk that did occur would simply have been washed away in the glory of victory over that lot.

Dalglish has made it quite clear that he intends to give some of the younger players a chance to prove their worth in the first team, with Kelly a success. So in the absence of Steven Gerrard, Jay Spearing was handed a starting place, on the merit that he had a good game for the reserves in midweek. Now i know this will rock the boat a bit with some but i have to say that i'm not a big fan of his. Alot of supporters blindly give him praise purely and simply because he 'a local lad'. Locality has nothing to do with a footballers ability, but the really good players who get into their local sides are pretty much hero worshipped. At the age of 22 he has made a mere 5 first team League appearances, by age 22 i would expect a really good player to have made a few more than that. He's small, not very fast, his passing is on the whole below par, he seems to lack strength yet gives off the impression that he is quite a strong player and his creativity is barely there, what he does have is determination but thats not enough. I've heard many talk of him as the 'Next Gerrard' but the gulf in class between the two is huge, and im comparing a 22yr old Gerrard to a 22yr old Spearing. Gerrard had made over 100 League appearances by the age of 22 and was only a year away from the Liverpool Captaincy and had already played in over 10 internationals and scored 2 goals for his country. There is no comparison, and at times against Everton he didn't look up to the job, he had an OK game but i dont think he has the ability to displace Lucas, Meireles or Gerrard in the middle, there is talk of Van Bommel coming in, and the younger Jonjo Shelvey looks to be a much better midfielder and has already made more League appearances, and has the potential to claim a first team place before he turns 22 in just over 3 years time. Even in the reserve game, Spearing was only OK, Pacheco had a much better game and is probably wondering what he has to do to get a decent shot at the first team, can be used as a striker but looks the part in a central attacking role. And thats the only negativity from me this week.

Against the bitters we where unfortunate, first goal for them should never have happened as it was quite clearly a goal kick, if Dowd wasn't sure all he had to do was ask himself why Kuyt was escorting the ball off the pitch quite casually rather than trying to prevent the corner. Second goal again unlucky, Anichebe leads with the elbow and he like a vast number in the Everton team is, politely, overweight, or just fat. Whilst he doesn't seem to catch Kelly with that elbow the collision was a rough one and the landing even harder. Now maybe i'm wrong with this but im pretty sure that the referee has to stop play for head injuries, now, Kelly takes a knock to the head and then lands awkwardly with his head hitting the floor with some force, Phil Dowd is no doctor and head injuries can be quite severe and need to be dealt with immediately, that is why referee's are instructed to play 'immediately' good thing Kelly was OK. If Dowd does this then no second goal, just bad luck, if he'd have gotten the first one right then this one is slightly forgivable but he still made a mistake.

Luck will come our way, like i said it  might seem like Dalglish has been back aaaages, but its only just over a week and already the signs are positive. Much improvement from the reds, and now its time to push on and at the rate the team is improving i can see us having a fair number of wins to celebrate in the coming weeks.

Talk of LFC getting in 5/6 players in January is a bit wild in my opinion, i would expect money to be spent, but only on 2/3 players. Suarez looks more an more like a done deal by the hour, and reports of loan signings rather than actual money changing hands implies to me that NESV are prepared to stave off the main rebuilding job until the summer, by which point they will or should have, their CEO in place, and have a much more rounded understanding of the game and how thing's work, oh and know who the manager will be next season!

Fans were great at the Derby, as always!!

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Take care Folks,

ash