25 Jan 2012

Angry GERRARD blasts: Dalglish suggestion is 'absolutely ludicrous'...

For the first time since he returned to Anfield a year ago, Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish is under genuine pressure. After one win in the last six premier league games, the club is languishing in seventh place, and the level of performance has arguably plummeted to a concerning low. The heat is most definitely on, and some Liverpool fans are even calling for Dalglish's head. Club captain Steven Gerrard is having none of it though, and he responded angrily to suggestion that a managerial change is needed at Anfield.

Speaking to The Mirror, Gerrard admitted that things were 'not great' at the club right now, but emphatically refuted the suggestion Dalglish should leave:

"The few whispers about a change of manager after one defeat are ludicrous to me. It’s absolutely ludicrous and I just take no notice to that at all. Change happens at football clubs year in and year out because everyone is desperate for success.

"We all know what it’s about at Liverpool. If you get a bad result some people cry out for change but you need to accept that and get on with it. As a group, we need to start turning draws into wins and avoid performances like Bolton. That’s what needs to change.

"We’re six points off fourth and there are 16 games left. You’re not telling me that this team and the players we’ve got here are not capable of making that up? The sides we’re competing with aren’t on all out consistent runs, so why isn’t it possible? Why are people crying out for change?"

"Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all great here. There is no good time to perform like that (at Bolton) when you play for this club. The fans won’t accept it, they don’t deserve it - it’s not allowed. Otherwise you get shouted at and criticised by your manager like we have all experienced".


As I argued earlier today, calling for Dalglish's head is ridiculous, just like it was when fans were campaigning against Roy Hodgson a year ago.

Gerrard is right when he suggests that the team is 'capable' of making it into fourth place, but words mean nothing; what happens on the pitch is all that matters, and right now, the team is not showing top four form.

Finishing in the top four is definitely possible, but it's not looking very probable right now.

I posted an article last week analysing Liverpool's historical league performance, and the reality is this:

* The club has finished 4th only ONCE in the last 38 years with 7 or more home league draws.

* Liverpool have NEVER finished 4th in the modern era with 8 or more home league draws.

Liverpool are already on 7 home league draws this season; one more, and history suggests that 4th place isn't going to happen.

Jaimie Kanwar


41 comments:

  1. what a dumb article. languishing in 7th place. wow i would almost think we are about to be relegated with the tone you have used here. oh, dumb articles like this doesnt help the club, cause, actually doesnt help anyone or anything...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice support of Hodgson there.

    You are something else

    ReplyDelete
  3. To be honest there are many clubs can say they're not far off from d 4th spot. Chelsea, Arsenal, Newcastle & Stoke are within reach of 4th spot with 16 games left? Judging our performance with 1 win in d last 6 league games..are we any better than them? Its worrying.... 

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anyone that thinks Hodgson should not have been fired is an idiot and not a Liverpool fan. Hodgson should only be wished on your worst enemy! I bet you think Konchesky was a brilliant signing too! What a clown...

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm just surprised you're not blaming Benitez you sad cunt.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've been trying to take a long term view the whole season to avoid over-reacting to any individual results, either positive or negative. And the simple fact is that our results are waaay below par.

    Right now we are on pace to deliver 60 pts (1.6ppg) which is even worse than the total that Benitez's team put up in his final season! Yea, he's improved on Hodgson's return, but was that really all that was desired from a new manager???

    Dalglish deserved a bit of extra credit for his what he did previously at LFC, but combine the on the pitch returns with the off the pitch nonsense and he's already wearing that credit out imho...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dalglish ,pls do something dont depand on andy carroll , get bellamy to do

    ReplyDelete
  8. Why do you always have to twist everything into emotional hyperbole? Do you want to work for a tabloid?

    ReplyDelete
  9. for tonight match 2nd leg against city:
    GK: Reina
    defend: kelly agger skrtel enrique
    MF/W: gerrard shelvey adam hendo or maxi 
    Forward: bellamy kuyt
    Other than this..i couldnt c result coming our way...putting carrol as starting 11 as lone striker will only boost city's confidence

    ReplyDelete
  10. Gerrard has missed the point entirely. It's not just about the defeat to Bolton. It's been like that our WHOLE season. We've lost to Bolton, Fulham and Stoke, and drawn against Sunderland, Norwich, Swansea, Wigan, Stoke and Blackburn. We've dropped 21 points against small clubs and we are only half way through the season. We've been outscored by teams in the relegation zone. We play shockingly bad football, with no invention, flair or creativity. All of this after spending £120million in less than 12 months. If all of that doesn't entitle fans to ask questions, than I have no idea what will. 

    ReplyDelete
  11. Gerrard should be careful with what he says, he was merely a shadow in the Bolton match, for him to speak to us fans like that is not acceptable, as it is not all nonsense, we are no way near 4th, KD is trying to tout FA/Carling cups for 4th, becoz he knows that we will not get there.  We will not continue giving KD an excuse for his failure, he is a manager and should be treated as such by the fans, he will be criticised just like all the managers that are failing their fans.
    Kenny signed the 'squad players' that he continuously play despite having options in the reseves and juniors who should be given a chance, Sterling, Morgan, Suso, etc, why buy talent and make no use of it?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Kenny paid the price of buying british players and they dont perform but it's too early to call head to roll. Get world class players in the next few days otherwise the season is over.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Jamie where do you think things went wrong? Honestly I am baffled. KK returned, we started playing lovely football, real pass and move, remember Fulham, City, United last year...we played beautifully and got the results. We were a club on the up. Why didnt we just stay on that path...over the 2nd half of the season in terms of points we were only second to United. We reinvented the wheel, maybe we should just have tweaked the wheel. We bought a bunch of average British players, workman at best. Played the lot from game one and they just havent delivered. Also last year through circumstance KK turned to a few youth players and they stepped up. Maybe it is time he did the same. Could Sterling, Susso, Cody, Eccestone be any worse? 
     

    ReplyDelete
  14. Trader2704 spot on!! d fact is we did badly against half end of d table. With wat hv been spent...fans hv d rite to question everything...its up to them to find answers..not questioning back what fans felt. As alwez being said.."every game is important"...so fans comments is not jz d bolton game....its d whole gameplay

    ReplyDelete
  15. Sorry Gerrard we the Liverpool supporters are fed up waiting and waiting for to be the year, as you rightly putted the club deserves success that is our belief. We the supporters have been extremely paitent but there comes a time when enough is just enough. we had souness evans hodgson benetez and now dalglish all spending large ammounts of money on shit! titi camara picnek one twat after the other casting vast amounts of money now 35 million on carroll oh gosh. the only person that is good for liverpool is jose mourinho he demand success instantly and wether u like him or not always delivers 

    ReplyDelete
  16. No fan should be calling for Dalglish's head at this moment.
    We should wait until the end of the season and see where we are and how far odd 4th spot we are.
    We must accept and Dalglish must accept he mad poor signings this season.
    John Henry and Tom Werner must ask if they would entrust him to spend more money.
    Bare in mind that it will be even harder next season to sign better players due to us being out of the Champions League places.
    John Henry & Tom Werner must decide if next season they want Dalglih to continue.
    However based on the 'progress' thus far it doesn't bode well for the team or Dalglish.
    I will say it again we should have gone for a young manager who was hungry.
    Many fans would have accepted not finishing in TOP 4 IF we had a young hungry Manager who was truly building something with the Reserve players and buying up young INTERNATIONAL talent.
    To me the problem is the STUPID decision to BUY BRITISH that has been at the cause of the problem.
    No other club in the Premier League has such a Policy of BUY BRITISH.
    It's naive and outdated.

    Finally, the problems we see MUST be starting in the training ground.
    What exactly does that say?
    I said before that if you see players who don't train as hard as you and are technically less able than you, getting more game time, IT WILL DEMOTIVATE you.

    There is a big difference between sticking by the players you bought and the best interests of the team winning.

    Dalglish has until the of the season and then he will be assessed.  

    ReplyDelete
  17. If you look beyond the results you can see a team that plays in a more possesion way compared tho the Benitez and Hodgson days.We can see a team that slowly moving forward.The atmosphere at match days and even in the changing room are completely different.Kenny has brought us a whole new team.The supporters of Liverpool FC are waiting for succes but i am afraid we have to wait a little bit longer.Andy Carroll plays like a turkey and runs like a chimpanse but even though i can see a team that
    creates more chances in every single game.We have to support and believe.To put Mr.Dalglish under pressure will not benefit the team in any circumstances.Tonight we are playing against a team of word class players.We already have one leg in the finale at Wembley so we have to believe that Kenny can motivate the team to go all the way and put his signature on the trophy.

    YNWA

    ReplyDelete
  18. I'm surprised because I wouldn't be expected the manager's agenda today, few hours away from a crucial Carling Cup 2nd leg semifinal against a world class team. We've talked about the manager's decisions for at least a week. I don't think today it's the day to put extra pressure again on the manager, but it's the time to support The Club with passion. We're 90 mins away from an historick come back to Wembley.....

    ReplyDelete
  19. Do you watch the same team as i do?  I'd say we've played some very good football at times this season, or have you only watched the last 2 or 3 games?  It's the fact we can't put the ball in the back of the net.  That's it.  Nothing more than that.

    Things change when Suarez is back.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I'm glad Stevie G has come out and publicly supported the manager - something not done by the majority of the posters on this site. The match against Bolton is only the 3rd time this season that we haven't gone out and dominated the opposition. Sure, we have drawn too many games but if we are playing silky pass & move football and making the other team look like amateurs then there's only a small amount of fine tuning to be done before we start ripping up the league. 
    I don't have access to all the stats like some do but I've seen almost every game this season and, barring the finishing, we have been awesome to watch. Compare this to last season under Hodgson, we were terrible and, at times, it was embarrassing. That form lost us one of our best ever strikers and, with the fiasco of the pair of cowboys, made us the laughing stock of the whole of football. Kenny's has had us playing like we used to back in his first term as manager, he made tweaks to try and have us scoring the goals we have been lacking and, coupled with the injuries to Lucas & Gerrard and Suarez ban, he has had to try and find a system with the players he has available.
    Sure, some of his signings have not lived up to their price tags and there are is a lot of anti British sentiment among our fans but the truth is, we will soon be forced to field more Brits than non Brits in a season or two and, according to 'the stats', Henderson, Adam, Downing & Carroll were the ones to go for. 
    How much criticism did Wenger come under when he fielded and entirely foreign first XL? How much criticism have Chelsea, Man Utd and now Man City been subjected to for buying the league and paying big bucks for foreign players?
    I know there is always the argument between playing boring 'anti football' (Mourhino style) and winning 1-0 and playing stylish attacking football (Wenger style) and coming up short. 
    Compared to a year ago, the club is in a much better place. We have owners who know what they are doing, our finances are in order, we have no sulking world cup winners, we have strength in depth and we have a sense of belief again. 
    It will take time, I'm not denying that, but the past year has seen the sleeping giant wake up, admittedly, it's not entirely a morning person, but we will be there soon and, with a couple of astute signings, we will be fighting for the league title up until May for the next decade and beyond.

    YNWA

    ReplyDelete
  21. This is, shockingly, our Club Captain speaking;

    "As a player I don't want to be saying I finished in the top four, four or five
    times. I want to look back and say I won the Carling Cup three times. Or four.
    Or five"

    How can anyone actually accept this attitude from our captain? have we not regressed over the years if this is the mentality that is being expressed? A desire to play the Championship's elite rather than Europe's elite?

    I guess myself and Stevie G do not share the same priorities, I have said it before, I dont care if City beat us tonight, if Man Utd beat us Saturday if it means we make it back into the Champions League - from a Financial and Marketing point of view the Champions League is more than just a cup competition these days. Bonuses, sponsorship, advertising, TV revenue is so beneficial to clubs that can sustain competing year in and out - which is also why when foreign investors take over clubs as money making ventures the CL is a priority as a source of profit.

    Maybe some fans will agree with Gerrard and say silverware is what the club is about - I am beggining to see the grounds of the arguments some fans put forward when they say we have spiralled into mediocrity - with comments like this from Gerrard they are correct.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Dalglish needs to be sacked and deserves it too. he is not bigger than the club. you reap what you sew...he has bought pathetic ...results are pathetic...and he hides behind excuses like only been here for a year...well am sorry but that ain't going to wash much longer...


    Kk HAS BEEN AT LIVERPOOL FOR OVER 3 YEARS NOW...he knew the players and set up inside out because he was there under Rafa and Roy.. so he knew what was needed..he's proved the job is too big for him...

    Thanks kk and go

    ReplyDelete
  23. What absolute non sense post.... My God...

    ReplyDelete
  24. That's what people were saying about Roy too.

    Whats there to disagree. If you swap kk and Roy as managers and Roy bought these players and got these results ...there would be uproar

    ReplyDelete
  25. The club is in a better state because of the owners and not because of kk.

    Give Paul Lambert 130million at norwich and i guarantee you he would finish above us .

    .give Pardew 130million and see who would finish above..

    .infact give anybody in the league including Steve keane Blackburn 130million and they'd finish above us whilst kk is in charge and we keep buying kk's talent.

    KK IS THE PROBLEM...... as for last year when we were 3rd from bottom...even if Roy stayed and got money to spend...he would have improved us

    ReplyDelete
  26. I don't think the football we've played this season is "very good". "Very good" compared to what? Compared to the football we played from the 2nd half of last season, the quality now can't be described as "very good". 

    You make our inability to score sound like a small problem. It is not a small problem. It is a huge problem. If you spend over a £100million on attacking players and you're getting outscored by Blackburn that is a huge problem. 

    Of course things will change when Suarez is back, he is the best player in the league. But ask yourself this: If you could have either Suarez or Lucas back, who would you take? Since Lucas got injured, results have dived but since Suarez's ban nothing much has changed. I honestly believe that Lucas has the biggest influence on Liverpool right now and we miss him more than Suarez. 

    ReplyDelete
  27. You've answered your own question! Yes,they played ok toward the end of last season,but this season he has had play and try to prove the garbage that he bought in the closed season!

    ReplyDelete
  28. To elaborate, here are some stats taken from Uefa's official site regarding last seasons campaign which illustrates the absurdity of Gerrard's priorities.

    "Teams competing in the UEFA Champions League group stage this season can expect to receive a minimum amount of €7.2m according to the revenue distribution system in place for the 2010/11 campaign

    Each of the 32 clubs taking part in the UEFA Champions League group stage that kicks off on Tuesday will receive a participation bonus of €3.9m, plus a match bonus of €550,000 per group game played. On top of that, the following performance bonuses will be paid: €800,000 for every win and €400,000 for every draw in the group stage.

    There are additional payments made to the teams that progress in the competition with €3m the reward for advancing to the round of 16, €3.3m for reaching the quarter-finals and €4.2m for a semi-final place. The winners of the final at Wembley Stadium on 28 May will collect a further €9m, with €5.6m going to the runners-up

    By way of example, any side winning all six group games would earn €15m – comprising €12m for their group stage performance plus €3m for getting to the last 16.
    In addition, participating clubs will be entitled to a share of the market pool based on the commercial value of their domestic television market, the number of UEFA Champions League matches they play this season and their final position in the domestic league table last term. They will also keep their UEFA Champions League gate receipts

    The estimated available amount of €341.1m from the television market pool will be distributed according to the proportional value of each TV market represented by the teams involved in the UEFA Champions League (from the group stage onwards), and will be split among those sides participating from a given association

    In 2011 Manchester United got €53.197m in payments from UEFA. This comprised more than €27m for their performances from the UEFA Champions League group stage onwards, and another €25.9m from the television market pool

    Barcelona's triumphant run to the title at Wembley in May earned them a total of €51.025m. The Spanish club's performance-related payments amounted to €30.7m and they also collected €20.3m from the TV market pool "



    When you read the above and honestly think winning domestic cups is more important than playing in the Champions League then we as a club are in trouble.

    Gerrard may have said his comments to ease fans into the inevitable - not making 4th and make it seem as if winning a domestic cup is top of his agenda so it will be a successful season - IMO only the most gullible fans will buy into the notion that Carling Cup success is more important than CL qualification as Gerrard believes.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Suarez is quality but best player in the league? Yikes.

    ReplyDelete
  30. I think kk is a slow thinker!!! carol can be performing that way still having first eleven option this sucks!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  31. I think you might want to actually take a look at the results following Lucas' absence and Suarez's absence again...

    ReplyDelete
  32. Well, Kenny just gave Gerrard a job for life didn't he? Gerrard has been in football long enough to know that you can put a good spin on anything with statistics. But he should know that the supporters have been watching long enough to spot bs when they hear it. The lowest that we should be able to finish in the table and Kenny remain in charge should be 5th, and within 3 points of 4th place. I say that because the board should be expecting us to finish above Newcastle and Arsenal. Chelsea might be a different matter and we can't really complain if we end up behind the two manchester clubs, Chelsea and Tottenham at this stage. Next season, 4th should be the lowest they should accept. After that, we should be thinking title challenge. That represents progress and should all be achievable. But if Gerrard thinks that being behind Newcastle and Arsenal is acceptable at this point, we should question whether he is the right captain, to be honest.

    Tonight, of all nights, is the game that Carroll needs to play in. In case no one had noticed, City's centre back, Savic, is having an even bigger nightmare than Carroll. We should have Carroll marking/bullying him for the whole game and look to stick the ball on his when he is in the box the entire time. He's possibly the only defender who looks physically weaker than Carroll at the moment.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Jay, you're results aren't accurate. First 5 games without Lucas is LWWDD, whereas first 5 games without Suarez is WLWWD. I'm not going to do a points average as it includes cup games but if I had you would see that more points came after Suarez's ban than after Lucas's injury. Liverpool missed Lucas' absence more than Suarez. Moreover, the week before Lucas got injured we beat Chelsea twice in the space of a week and drew with City (and deserved to win). The week after he got injured, we lost to Fulham and scraped a win over QPR. 

    ReplyDelete
  34. And Gerrard should know better than anyone, the fact that Arsenal have lost 3 on the spin and we are still behind them makes it less likely that we will overtake them, not more. If we are behind them with all their injuries, what happens when Vermaelen plays two games in a row, Sagna comes back, Wilshere, Arteta. I can see them pulling well clear of us. Even Newcastle look set to run us close.

    ReplyDelete
  35. to the fans who want the head of KK well listen to your clubs captain. the players ultimately are behind KK and so should you. I have had enough of some arm chair liverpool fans who come on here and just slag off the team. I check their comments and as soon as the 90 mins was up against bolton, you could see they where on here after blood. this is how shallow some supporters are. All i say is this. I pay 1460 quid for 2 season tickets, and have been to many away games. my current spend each season is approximately 4000 quid to go to games, so if ther was someone who has a reason for being pissed off it would be me. but to the fans who never go, watch games on mathc of tha day. catch the highlights on youtube and are calling forr KK's, please stop the comments as your point is not wanted and has no credibility. If you do go the game and invest in the team, watch very game and still want KK, its your opinion and I do value it, but for the others, please dont bother!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  36. The players don't look to be behind Kenny in quite a few of the games, to be honest. And, even if they are, they will be if they are playing and getting away with the dross they are serving up. I keep going back to Arsenal, but in no way should we be trailing them in the league at this point.

    ReplyDelete
  37. sorry but we haven't... the team will never win for having "good statistics" on the game.. example 15shots on goal 0 goals, as the other team 5 shots on goal 2 goals... how is that a good team????  and also ahve you looked at the cross percentages? johnson has the best average for crosses and he is a defender... why did they spend about 45 mil for downing and henderson when they cannot connect a cross....

    ReplyDelete
  38. doesn't lucas have one of the best tackle averages in the league???

    ReplyDelete
  39. whats going to happen with Carrol? biggest bust at the moment... cannot even score a header in when he was mainly brought in to expand our aerial attack!!! i wonder if KD is going to bring just one more forward... but if they are going to spend big money they should do it with someone that actually has had more than half a season of consistency.... 

    ReplyDelete
  40. you do have a good point. but why wait? like you said if KD fails this season it is going to be very difficult to bring in name players... unless mou is brought in to sub KD.... it is a wild idea and dream but one can only dream....

    ReplyDelete
  41. yes but thats not the problem... everytime they play man u, chelsea, arsenal, hotspurs and now city they play great!! but why can't they do the same against bolton, stoke, blackburn and wigan????

    ReplyDelete