Liverpool are yet to win a league title in the Premiership era despite continued success in domestic and European knock out competitions. Are they about to miss another chance to change all of that?

Overview

And why not? The Spaniard won the European Cup, the FA Cup, the European Super Cup and the Community Shield during his time at Anfield in an era dominated by Manchester United and the newly moneyed Chelsea. He also clearly hated Alex Ferguson as much as every other right thinking individual - his legendary “facts” press conference right up there with Kevin Keegan’s “I’d love it” after match briefing back in the day.

The problem with these moments when managers finally crack and say what everybody thinks about United’s long serving sour faced Scot is it means they’ve lost. Keegan’s rant came towards the end of Newcastle spectacularly blowing a 12 point lead at the top of the Premiership table – and tellingly finished with the line “he’s got to go to Middlesbrough and get something.” Ferguson always gets something.

For all of Benitez’s “facts” and knock out trophies won at Liverpool he too failed to deliver a prize they’ve come to covert more than any other – the Premiership. Liverpool won the First Division title eight times between 1979 and 1990 and haven’t won it a single time since. This has been a tale of several missed opportunities. The Premiership came to be dominated by Man Utd right from the very beginning – but they were there to be shot at before that extraordinary youth team of Beckham, the Nevilles, Scholes and Butt graduated into the first XI.

Rather than shoot at them, Liverpool went into the Premiership era under the guidance of Graeme Souness. Good player though he undoubtedly was, Souness always has been a truly awful manager. He signed people like Paul Stewart, Michael Thomas and Julian Dicks while Alex Ferguson was recruiting Eric Cantona, Andrei Kanchelskis and Peter Schmeichel with predictable, and long lasting, results. Souness now sits in television studios telling other managers what they should be doing, such is the craziness of the sport we follow. Given that Norwich and Aston Villa managed to mount reasonable challenges to Man Utd at the beginning of the Premiership while Liverpool finished below even ourselves it’s fair to count that as missed opportunity number one, almost criminally. As it takes a while for football players to age, they would have to wait more than a decade for another.

When it came, it came to Benitez. In 2008/09 Benitez had an excellent Liverpool starting 11, if slightly questionable strength in depth. Chelsea, who had muscled in with some Russian money since Liverpool were last in a position to challenge, were enduring one of their periods of crisis/change that comes when your owner is rich but stupid. Man Utd were also on the verge of requiring a rebuild – Liverpool beat them twice during the campaign, including a 4-1 win at Old Trafford inspired by Fernando Torres.

That they didn’t win the league that season is entirely down to Rafael Benitez who failed to recognise that it’s the Premiership that Liverpool fans want to win more than anything else as we stand at the moment. It wasn’t beating Man Utd, or indeed Chelsea, that was the problem for them that season – they took 12 points from the pair of them showing that man for man Liverpool had the best team that year. The problem came against the division’s lesser lights when Benitez frequently rested the likes of Torres, Alonso and Gerrard for games against teams they should have beaten, but subsequently didn’t, so they would be fit for midweek European games. Liverpool lost the title by four points having drawn home matches against Stoke, Fulham, West Ham and Hull. Torres, Gerrard and Alonso played together in just one of those four key matches. Benitez blew it, his priorities were skewed, they should have won the title by ten points that season. That, and his fascination with adding another £7m Spanish left back to his squad every transfer window regardless of need and circumstance makes the adoration of him in Scouse-land a little mystifying to me. A better manager would have won at least one title with Liverpool during that period he was in charge.

And it may be that they’re about to blow it again. Chelsea are suddenly in a state of disarray with an ageing team and a young, inexperienced manager increasingly looking like he’s out of his depth. Manchester United are building a “team to beat Barcelona” but currently don’t even have one that can beat Basle. Nobody enjoys a Manchester United failure such as the one we saw on Wednesday night more than me – and I particularly liked the line about the M62 being closed in both directions due to gale force hysterical laughter from Merseyside. But rather than laughing Liverpool should be leaping in and taking advantage of this opening at the top of English football. For the first time since 1993ish Man Utd are there to be overtaken again, and the only team that’s been consistently able to do it in recent times is self destructing. Chasers should be filling their boots.

Clearly Manchester City are best placed to waltz off into the sunset and dominate for the next ten years with their millions of pounds but you only have to look at the way Spurs are going about things this season to see that this is by no means a one horse race. Suddenly the Champions League places are between six teams, with the traditional Premiership domineering forces of Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal on the wane somewhat. Spurs have, under Harry Redknapp, built a beautifully balanced and talented side capable of competing against clubs with far bigger grounds and resources. They’ll be stronger come January as well when their problems at centre half are likely to be addressed with Gary Cahill and no doubt another couple of quality additions besides.

Liverpool meanwhile have spent the last few years being run by a pair of clueless American clowns. George Gillett and Tom Hicks arrived from American knowing nothing about Liverpool or football aiming to make lots of money for themselves out of both. The result was a catastrophe at one of the country’s most prestigious club, the ownership of which became the subject of bitter legal wrangling. They have a new American owner now, the more reasonable seeming John Henry, but crucial ground has been lost. Spurs and Man City have been building a team while Liverpool have been tearing themselves apart. Had Liverpool started doing what they’re doing now two seasons ago this year could finally have been the year. As it is we’re talking about a title race between Man City and Spurs.

Massive injections of cash have been pumped into the playing squad in the last 12 months to try and haul it back from the desperate state it reached at this stage last season when the likes of Paul Konchesky and Christian Poulsen were first team regulars. The manager then was Roy Hodgson, a man who was abused and ridiculed to outraegous levels by The Kop given the boardroom situation at the club at the time. Quite what they expected the manager to do in that situation is beyond me. His replacement, when he was fired midway through the last campaign, was Kenny Dalglish – a club legend as player and manager in a previous spell. Dalglish was becoming to Liverpool what Alan Shearer was to Newcastle a few years ago – a man constantly up in the stand who you felt needed to be given a go at managing the team before anybody else would be given a fair chance to do so.

Improvements since he took over are there for all to see. But Dalglish is held in such high regard in these parts that nobody seems to have noticed that he hasn’t actually injected the cash that’s been made available to him very well, and Liverpool are in big danger of allowing a new dynasty to be formed at the top of this league without their name featuring once again. If that happens, it will be a decade or more before they have another opportunity to pass up.

Interview

Peter Lantry, a US based Liverpool fan of many years standing, made the mistake of appearing on the LoftforWords message board earlier this week asking for QPR fans’ opinions about the season so far. He was quickly captured, caged and ordered to answer six questions on his own team under severe torture. Thankfully, he was a jolly good sport about it all.

What have you made of the Liverpool season so far? Where do you hope/expect to finish this season?

The season has been a combination of great play, multitudes of chances, dire refereeing decisions (but look who I'm talking to - see WBA) and maddening frustration. I think we lead the league in hitting the woodwork, and keepers seem to have career days at Anfield lately. Suarez can change a game at a moment's notice, but I wish he wasn't so obviously frustrated when things don't go his way. He should just get on with it. Reminds me a bit of Torres in his last days at LFC, except Suarez deeply cares. I'm hoping for a top four, as absence from the Champions League seems strange, but we need a real change of luck and need to finish more of our chances. Continuing to get draws at home won't cut it. My heart hopes for third or fourth. The realist in me says sixth.

What are the hopes and ambitions for Liverpool in the medium to long term? Is it realistic to expect a Premiership title given the way things have gone since the league was formed and the new money at Man City? Do you need a new ground before you can seriously contend for the league?

Medium term, (this year and next) I think getting back into Champions League is a must, not only for prestige but the money aspect as well as attracting (and keeping) talent. Long term (2+ years) I think it's fairly obvious that top of the league is a goal. We came close a few years ago under Rafa with a limited budget compared to Chelsea and Man Utd so it was possible then and I think it's possible now. Ground share with our Blue neighbours across Stanley Park seems to be a dead issue. As for a new ground, being from the US and knowing a bit about Fenway Sports Group, Fenway Park and Boston, I can tell you that John Henry has a deep respect for tradition and has done a lot to improve Fenway while dealing with the same property "footprint". I think in order to raise more revenue Anfield can be expanded and more marketing done in North and South America. A summer tour in the US in 2012 would be brilliant (he says selfishly ).

What's the deal with Andy Carroll? That massive transfer fee seemed excessive at the time and it certainly seems that way now.

On paper I'd agree that the fee seems excessive, but he's only 22 (23 on Jan 6). I think it's a combination of playing time, formation that Kenny Dalglish selects to determine a starting lineup, and that damned luck or lack of finishing. For instance if Joe Hart had not made a world class save on him in the Man City fixture, we would be talking about Carroll in a bit of a different light. Dalglish played a 4-5-1 and had Suarez as a lone striker with Carroll coming on at 80 minutes. With Carling Cup, FA Cup, and the League matches coming on, a deep squad will be important so I think Carroll will get his playing time and come good with more experience. The jury is still out to see if the fee was excessive.

How have you rated Dalglish's performance as manager so far? He's certainly spent plenty of money, are Liverpool underachieving?

Kenny loves Liverpool and the feeling is definitely mutual, so it's difficult to form an unbiased opinion. Performance wise I'd rate an 8.5 out of ten, Liverpool Supporters love how Kenny sticks up for the interests of the club and doesn't let the press get him into controversial situations by asking him idiot questions. He gives it right back. His response to the FA regarding the Carling Cup fixture at Chelsea 48 hrs after the Man City match being the best example. Told them the scheduling was shocking and rightly so. I'd say that there are many supporters who wish he used his substitutions a bit more wisely or earlier in the match than he has. I feel Maxi and to a degree Bellamy are not utilised as much as they should be with Downing and Henderson getting more time. Bottom line though is "In Kenny We Trust".

What do you make of your new(ish) owner? I suppose, like us, anything has to be better than the last pair of clown's right?

Night and cay. Again, being from the US I can add that the pair of clowns weren't exactly loved on this side of the pond either, especially Hicks. He ran the Texas Rangers into the ground, and only when Nolan Ryan took over did things change (appeared in last two World Series). Ditto for the Dallas Stars (NHL). As mentioned before, John Henry has a respect for the history and legacy of Liverpool FC and it shows in how he carries on with the board and with Dalglish. Long may Kenny prosper, but I feel if Rafa Benitez had been able to survive the turmoil of ownership change and had the backing/funding that Henry provides, he would still be here. As exemplified with the acquisition of Carroll, Suarez, Bellamy, Jose Enrique, etc., Kenny is getting the backing he needs and frankly the supporters deserve. I'm sure you feel the same way on your side.

Who's the star man, the unsung hero, the up and coming youngster and the weak link in your squad? Underrated but no longer, was Lucas Leiva - fans vote for Player of the Year last season. It’s tragic that he is out for the rest of this term (see above with Carling Cup game 48 hrs after ManCity... arrrrggggg). Spearing is home grown through the LFC Academy and has not disappointed, red card against Fulham notwithstanding. The steal of the year and unsung hero in my opinion so far is Jose Enrique. Solid in defence, hardly anyone gets by him, and can launch the odd attack with flair. Weak link if there is any is in our strikers with their lack of finishing. We create opportunities galore but for some reason can't finish and put games away.

Manager

You can perhaps tell that I’m slightly sympathetic to Roy Hodgson after the way he was treated by Liverpool. Appointed to follow Rafael Benitez whose popularity in this part of the world is totally excessive when compared to his achievements, particularly in the latter part of his reign, Hodgson was in the unhappy position of not being Kenny Dalglish right from the start. If that wasn’t tough enough he was lumbered with the worst boardroom situation of any club in the country and left to cobble together a squad that fans expected to compete with Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea but was assembled on a budget not dissimilar to the one QPR are working with this term. What exactly was the man supposed to do?

Just as every Newcastle manager had to put up with club legend Shearer sitting in waiting for their job while passing judgement on their performance on Match of the Day, so Hodgson had to work under the shadow of Dalglish.

As a player he was a two club man – Celtic and Liverpool. He averaged a goal every other game for the former over more than 200 appearances and eight years during which he won four Scottish leagues, four Scottish cups and one Scottish League Cup. At Liverpool he averaged a goal every three games over 350-odd appearances and won six titles, four League Cups, an FA Cup, five Charity Shields, three European Cups and a Super Cup. He took up a player manager position with Liverpool in 1985 and won three titles, two FA Cup and four Charity Shields. You can see why the fans in this part of the world idolise him, despite his resignation through stress post Hillsborough in 1991.

He won a league title, at Anfield after a defeat ironically, with Blackburn at a time when they were the big spending club in English football. But unhappy spells at Newcastle and Celtic subsequently followed and it seemed that Dalglish had had his day. Only Liverpool would have given him a job in the modern era, and it remains to be seen whether sentiment has overruled common sense here.

However he does he was undoubtedly the right appointment. Liverpool was a club that was tearing itself apart, with a dreadful team and turbulent boardroom situation. New owner John Henry has shown with his management of the Boston Red Sox in the US that he knows the power of tradition and history within a sporting club and quickly recognised that an appointing Dalglish would transform the entire atmosphere at the club in one fell swoop – an outside may have taken months or years to achieve the mood shift his appointment managed in a single instant. Henry knows that Dalglish will be given five times as long (at least) by the supporters as any other manager to get things right because of his history at Anfield.

Even if he fails, the club feels more stable and together than it did a year ago and any subsequent manager will be able to get on with the job, as Alan Pardew has done at Newcastle since Shearer was tried and failed.

Scout Report

But last January was a strange time. The Carroll transfer, and that of the simply wonderful Luis Suarez, was paid for (with a bit of change left over) but the sale of Fernando Torres to Chelsea. Torres was a player who’d been out of form for more than a year, clearly troubled by a variety of injuries and a crisis of confidence. Only Chelsea would have paid that money for that player at that time – God bless those silly sods. So when you look at that deal as a whole where Liverpool get Carroll and Suarez instead of Torres and make a profit, it’s a genius piece of transfer business.

However, there is little doubt that Kenny Dalglish’s intention for this season was for Carroll and Suarez to be his classic big-man little-man strike partnership more often than not, fed by good old fashioned wingers playing wide – probably Stuart Downing (who he also paid the thick end of £20m to get from Aston Villa) and Maxi Rodriquez. Given the way Pool destroyed Man City at Anfield last season (3-0) with Carroll in awesome form alongside Suarez in attack that seemed a pretty decent plan. But Carroll likes his beer too much, and isn’t a technically good enough player to hide that on the pitch. He’s become an impact sub at best, and that has caused problems.

Fingers have been pointed at Downing in particular, who has always had his critics but contributed seven goals and nine assists for Villa last season and has always been good for those sorts of figures. This season he’s yet to score, or set a goal up, in any competition. But this, in my view, is entirely down to the failings of Andy Carroll. Dalglish’s idea, clearly, was for Downing to be feeding those trademark left footed crosses into a penalty area filled by Luis Suarez, Andy Carroll and people like Steven Gerrard and another ridiculously overpriced summer signing Jordan Henderson breaking from deep. Carroll has been poor, Gerrard has hardly for six months, and this has made both Downing and Henderson look like poor options for the money paid.

Because I’m sad and have no life I sat and watched Liverpool play against Man City last week and paid very close attention to what Steve Kean may call their “penalty box penetration” from wide areas. In that City game, where they were once again set up in a 4-5-1 system with Suarez left to play along in attack, they played in 19 crosses (balls from wide areas in open play) across the 90 minutes. On each occasion I marked down how many men they had in the penalty area waiting for those balls in and the results clearly show why Downing is currently posting the worst number of his career. The first cross was aimed at a penalty box populated by two players, the second one was aimed at Suarez alone against five Man City players, and so it continued. Before they introduced Carroll for the last ten minutes of the game Liverpool crossed the ball on 14 different occasions - Villa last year with Ashley Young on one side and Downing on the other would manage more than double that in even a mediocre performance. Of those 14 crosses six of them were aimed at a penalty box containing a single Liverpool attacker, and five of them went in when there were just two attacking players in there. On only three occasions did Liverpool get three players in there, and they never had more than that.

In the last ten minutes, after Carroll was sent on, they sent the ball over in open play on five more occasions – there were two men there waiting for it on three occasions, and three on the other two. They never had only one man in there. But for the brilliance of Joe Hart they’d have won that game 2-1 – with a Carroll header from a cross funnily enough. Clearly, if Carroll could get his fat arse in gear, they’d be a force to be reckoned with. This lack of men in the penalty box makes them vulnerable to dropping points against teams that come to Anfield aiming for a point with two tightly packed banks of defence and midfield around their own box – Swansea and Norwich have already taken draws from Anfield this season.

Luis Suarez is an extraordinary player. Instantly dislikeable, constantly cheating, always on the wind up, but seriously talented and able to carry the Liverpool attack as a lone striker despite his small physical presence through sheer talent and work rate. QPR would be wasting their time making special arrangements for him because there is nobody in Neil Warnock’s squad who can live with the Uruguayan international and the best we can do is try and crowd him out of dangerous situations and hope he has an off day. City tried to keep him quiet by pressing Liverpool remorselessly high up the field, forcing them to look long and early for a player whose physical stature prevented him making an impact in that situation. Even City though only got a point from this fixture and Suarez was an absolute pest to them all afternoon – watch out for him creeping off to the back post and finding himself unmarked for deep corners as well, not easy to combat when Skrtel always rushes to the near post and poses a big threat. A better bet would be to combine that approach with an attempt to try and stifle Charlie Adam in midfield who has been excellent in recent weeks when I’ve seen him and really pulls the strings for this team.

With the first choice front two of Carroll and Suarez not working out Dalglish has taken to picking a horse for a course. Chelsea’s fabled high line defence under Andre Villas Boas was tackled with the pace of Craig Bellamy and Maxi Rodriqguez (both of whom should start more instead of Downing and Henderson in my opinion) and the result was a league and cup success at Stamford inside ten days. They pressed Chelsea high up the field and won the game because of that – scoring one goal by targeting Mikel when he tried to pick up possession on the edge of his own box.

It remains to be seen how much they suffer without Lucas Leiva in midfield for the rest of the season. The Brazilian was a figure of fun and ridicule at Anfield until 18 months ago but won their Player of the Year award last season. I thought the decision to award him Man of the Match against City was generous and pandered to the general Lucas love-in that was setting in at the time, but now he is injured for the season and Liverpool clearly missed him at Fulham on Monday night. Unbeaten in eight in the league, 11 in all competitions, and with six successive away wins to their name, they lost to a late Clint Dempsey goal at Craven Cottage. They started with Jay Spearing in the Lucas role but even before he was sent off Fulham found lots of space to trouble them in between the midfield and defence where Lucas usually roams. QPR can get joy between those two straight lines as they did at Wolves earlier this season.

Paid up members of the ‘Lloyd Doyley effect’ cult – a group of people who have rightly noticed that whenever a team hasn’t won for 20 games or a striker hasn’t scored for 200 matches QPR immediately oblige – will be hoping Jamie Carragher doesn’t win his place back in the Pool defence this weekend. He has just four goals in just shy of 700 appearances for Liverpool and has actually scored more own goals in that time. His last goal was in December 2006. Dirk Kuyt has also been stuck on 49 Premiership goals all season. Be afraid, be very afraid.

Carragher isn’t currently part of the back four though – Luis Enrique was a superb signing and real bargain in the summer and Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel are the first choice centre backs this season. Liverpool have the Premiership’s best defensive record along with both Manchester clubs – and City and United are the only two sides to manage goals from set pieces against Dalglish’s defence this season.

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Fan123 added 22:45 - Dec 8 Before 90's it was Ian Rush era isn't it? Senior players dominating regular 11th, exposure of up and coming young players weren't aggressive enough.
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Toast_R added 08:58 - Dec 9 I do find Liverpool supporters to be the most blinkered out there. 35M for a player who by his own admission requires experience to justify the fee is baffling. For 35M you'd expect him to be the complete article from the off and nothing less? Dalglish can do no wrong in their eyes and they are not doing much better then Hodgson managed this time last season. When you consider the money Dalglish has spent and players at his disposal compared to what Hodgson had, thats bordering a disgrace. The overall deciding factor for me is who they buy. Usually good players but fundementally players that are not as good as what Man Utd, Chelsea and now City have, hence why they will never win the Premiere League. Oh and lat but not leasr, diabolical refereeing decisions? Oh dear, the excuses are already in full flight.

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