Kenny Dalglish completed one year in charge of Liverpool Football Club over the weekend.
A lot has been said about how Kenny has had an excellent year when comparing Liverpool’s standing in the league now to where they where when he took over.
But Liverpool shouldn’t be comparing themselves to their lowest point of recent history - rather the height of just a few seasons ago.
Rafa Benitez did have a poor season to finish off his tenure, but he also had 5 great years.
And Kenny took over just 5 footballing months after Rafa.
Any comparisons should be made between Liverpool now and Liverpool under the great Spaniard.
This is where I have great difficulty in believing Kenny has done an excellent job so far.
He is not a patch on the master tactician and while you could argue that Rafa never lifted that elusive league title, that just goes to show how much further Kenny will have to go if he is to realise the dreams of the Anfield club.
Rafa never played the attractive brand of football that has become synonymous with teams like Manchester United or Arsenal, but his defensive set-up and tactical shrewdness meant he endeared himself to the purists of the game.
There was nothing more fascinating to watch than Rafa’s team defy the far superior attacking sides time and time again, bringing great success to Liverpool, namely in the Champions League.
Kenny, having spent over 10 years out of the game, has brought back all the passion, belief and inspiration that is loved on the terraces up and down England.
But he hasn’t added any tactical shrewdness - something that Rafa had in abundance.
The sort of tactical mind that is needed to take a team from being happy to compete for 4th place in the Premier League every season to a team that has their sights set on actually winning it.
What helped Kenny land the job was being a former player and manager of this great club.
If any Liverpool supporter actually thought about it objectively for one moment - handing the reigns of the club over to a man who had been out of the game for 10 years was ludicrous.
All this talk of ‘The return of the King’ was bound to cloud the issues for supporters - given the phenomenal support that Kenny could expect on the terraces from past glories.
Ultimately, they will be judge, jury and executioner for Kenny.
But walking into a courtroom when all 12 men are heralding you as a ‘King’ can only lead to clouded judgement.
For starters, his dealings in the transfer market have been questionable at best.
The signing of Andy Carroll his biggest mistake so far.
£35 million for a player of his quality was a massive misjudgment on his part.
However, his decision to sell Fernando Torres was both shrewd and brave.
An absolute hero to the Liverpool fateful and one of only two genuine world class players at the club.
But Kenny had seen signs of his demise and managed to top up his transfer kitty with £50 million.
Luis Suarez, whilst having undoubted talent, has question marks hanging over him following his 8 game ban for racism and 1 game ban for making an obscene gesture to opposition supporters.
Kenny was already aware of the disciplinary side of the ‘Cannibal of Ajax’, so aptly named by a Dutch newspaper following his 7 game ban for biting an opponents ear in Holland.
He will have his work cut out to make sure Luis doesn’t go the way of someone like Carlos Tevez.
However, the potential is there for Kenny to turn Luis into a world class player, if he can get the best out of his little South American.
Charlie Adam, whilst only costing £7 million, looks nothing more than a decent squad player, looking desperately short since the recent return of Steven Gerard.
Steven has shown immediately in his few games back, what is needed to be a general in the Liverpool midfield.
Good judgement on Kenny’s part was the signing of Jose Enrique, who has slotted in excellently to a defensive unit that Kenny is starting to build for the team.
But Stewart Downing until this weekend, had zero goals and zero assists.
Not the sort of return needed from an attacking winger.
Kenny just can’t seem to get the best out of his signing.
But with only one year in charge, and not even a full season to date, now is not the time to judge him.
He has his work cut out and should be given time during this transitional period.
However, with £115 million having already been spent, he is only in touching distance of fourth place because Arsenal and Chelsea are massively underachieving this season.
In a season without distractions like European competition either.
Kenny has appeased the terraces so far when supporters compare him to Roy Hodgson.
But he has a long way to go before he gets back to where Rafa had this great club.
Let alone to where the supporters really want to be...
A lot has been said about how Kenny has had an excellent year when comparing Liverpool’s standing in the league now to where they where when he took over.
But Liverpool shouldn’t be comparing themselves to their lowest point of recent history - rather the height of just a few seasons ago.
Rafa Benitez did have a poor season to finish off his tenure, but he also had 5 great years.
And Kenny took over just 5 footballing months after Rafa.
Any comparisons should be made between Liverpool now and Liverpool under the great Spaniard.
This is where I have great difficulty in believing Kenny has done an excellent job so far.
He is not a patch on the master tactician and while you could argue that Rafa never lifted that elusive league title, that just goes to show how much further Kenny will have to go if he is to realise the dreams of the Anfield club.
Rafa never played the attractive brand of football that has become synonymous with teams like Manchester United or Arsenal, but his defensive set-up and tactical shrewdness meant he endeared himself to the purists of the game.
There was nothing more fascinating to watch than Rafa’s team defy the far superior attacking sides time and time again, bringing great success to Liverpool, namely in the Champions League.
Kenny, having spent over 10 years out of the game, has brought back all the passion, belief and inspiration that is loved on the terraces up and down England.
But he hasn’t added any tactical shrewdness - something that Rafa had in abundance.
The sort of tactical mind that is needed to take a team from being happy to compete for 4th place in the Premier League every season to a team that has their sights set on actually winning it.
What helped Kenny land the job was being a former player and manager of this great club.
If any Liverpool supporter actually thought about it objectively for one moment - handing the reigns of the club over to a man who had been out of the game for 10 years was ludicrous.
All this talk of ‘The return of the King’ was bound to cloud the issues for supporters - given the phenomenal support that Kenny could expect on the terraces from past glories.
Ultimately, they will be judge, jury and executioner for Kenny.
But walking into a courtroom when all 12 men are heralding you as a ‘King’ can only lead to clouded judgement.
For starters, his dealings in the transfer market have been questionable at best.
The signing of Andy Carroll his biggest mistake so far.
£35 million for a player of his quality was a massive misjudgment on his part.
However, his decision to sell Fernando Torres was both shrewd and brave.
An absolute hero to the Liverpool fateful and one of only two genuine world class players at the club.
But Kenny had seen signs of his demise and managed to top up his transfer kitty with £50 million.
Luis Suarez, whilst having undoubted talent, has question marks hanging over him following his 8 game ban for racism and 1 game ban for making an obscene gesture to opposition supporters.
Kenny was already aware of the disciplinary side of the ‘Cannibal of Ajax’, so aptly named by a Dutch newspaper following his 7 game ban for biting an opponents ear in Holland.
He will have his work cut out to make sure Luis doesn’t go the way of someone like Carlos Tevez.
However, the potential is there for Kenny to turn Luis into a world class player, if he can get the best out of his little South American.
Charlie Adam, whilst only costing £7 million, looks nothing more than a decent squad player, looking desperately short since the recent return of Steven Gerard.
Steven has shown immediately in his few games back, what is needed to be a general in the Liverpool midfield.
Good judgement on Kenny’s part was the signing of Jose Enrique, who has slotted in excellently to a defensive unit that Kenny is starting to build for the team.
But Stewart Downing until this weekend, had zero goals and zero assists.
Not the sort of return needed from an attacking winger.
Kenny just can’t seem to get the best out of his signing.
But with only one year in charge, and not even a full season to date, now is not the time to judge him.
He has his work cut out and should be given time during this transitional period.
However, with £115 million having already been spent, he is only in touching distance of fourth place because Arsenal and Chelsea are massively underachieving this season.
In a season without distractions like European competition either.
Kenny has appeased the terraces so far when supporters compare him to Roy Hodgson.
But he has a long way to go before he gets back to where Rafa had this great club.
Let alone to where the supporters really want to be...
