A question

Ripleys

I'll answer properly tomorrow as I'm knackered and an hour ahead of you but with Dalglish all I see is a decline and manager who flatters to deceive in almost every single department and one that has run out of ideas.

He lambasted the interviewer after the QPR game for him mentioning tiredness and now look what his excuse is.

Sterling puts in a more spritely performance than anybody else and the answer is 'I'm not sure that;s the way forward for us'.

There's no progress, it's a shambles.

While I'm not one of the Kenny out brigade, at the same time I wouldn't be overly disappointed if he decided to step down.
For some reason since the turn of the year he does seem to have lost the plot. His tactics have become very negative and clueless, and the players do seem to have lost a lot of confidence in his methods.
We went from a decent attacking side, dominating most of the teams we played and creating chances galore but not putting them away, to a team that is now being dominated in great parts at home by relegation fighting teams. We have gone from a team that could, and should, have won a lot more than we have, to a team that has a 'must not lose' mentality.

As a fan who is grateful for all Kenny has done for us, especially as a player, my heart says give him time.
As a Liverpool fan who wants whats best for the club I love, my brain doesn't know, I really don't know what is for the best.

If Kenny gets a little more time and turns it around, would I be upset? No!
If he resigned and Rafa came back, would I be upset? No!
If he resigned and someone like AVB or Jose Mourinho came in, would I be upset? Again, no!

One thing for sure; Kenny has to do some hard thinking and change things, and quickly!

Ripley I have heard a fair few Liverpool fans making the point about the league position being unimportant but can a club really justify feeling this way?

Sure over at West Brom once they have secured their place in the league ready for next season fans may not complain too loudly should they slip a few league positions as it doesn't matter too much...

Liverpool however have Champions league places as their ambition and want to bring in the best players they possibly can. If they finished the season say 5th only a few points off 4th with the Carling cup won and would they could argue is a transition season then many players may be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and buy into their long term project.

It could even result in a few players turning down offers from CL clubs on the basis of Liverpool offering a bit more money and looking like they have a realistic shot at CL places next season. I remember for example Kewell turning down United and joining Liverpool instead as he "wanted to join a club that was on its way up rather than on its way down" this is the kind of belief you can instil into players when your doing well so they can even turn down what was arguably the better club as the one they are joining is on its way up.

Be honest here, your a foreign player joining a premiership team and you wouldn't choose Liverpool over any of the big teams (top 5) unless you had some particular attachment to Liverpool or one of its staff (Kenny is your hero or Suarez used to play with you)

Especially if the league form is to continue like this and Liverpool finish where... 8th, 9th maybe even 10th. You would have tremendous difficulty convincing any player that you will be back in the CL within a few years let alone finishing in the CL places next year.

Even outside of the top 5 a side like Newcastle could challenge you for signings, the only thing you would appear to have over them is money to spend and a far bigger reluctance to sell your best players. Just looking at the teams and performances (without being sold on a project or anything similar) I think most players would probably even pick Newcastle over you...

All this means that this summer you will be in an even worse position than you were last summer, at least towards the end of last season you looked like potential top 4 challengers this time round. This summer I don't think many players at all would consider a move to Liverpool based on them being potential CL challengers (at least not in the short term)

7_T_B We're all cheering you on Muamba! (U5768)

As far as signing players goes this summer, and as much as I hate to say it; I can only agree that there is sense in what you have just written, and unfortunately a deal of truth.

7_T_B,

Putting it into context, Liverpool finishing 8th, 9th, 10th, as opposed to 5th, 6th, or 7th (especially when it's the case that Europa League football has already been achieved), amounts to the same - failure to meet expectations in terms of the League.

I'm not suggesting that Liverpool fans should be happy with finishing below 4th (be that 5th or 17th). I'm merely suggesting that it's too early in which to make any conclusions as to whether Dalglish is good enough (or not) to take the club forward.

For the record, just in case you were under the impression, I'm not a Liverpool fan.

And also for the record, I doubt that there are many players who would chose Liverpool over Newcastle. No matter what parameters you lay down.

Sorry, my last point should read "choose Newcastle over Liverpool".

Ripley I know full well your a City fan (probably one of the best posters on these boards as well, one of the least bias for sure) I realise my opening line appears to paint you as a Liverpool fan. Again (as in the other topic) this is down to me not being clear enough so I apologise.

Thanks Red_Led, although to some extent as a United fan I am enjoying what Liverpool are doing in another way I can feel like a right saying these things to some of you Liverpool fans as a fair few of you are decent guys.

Ripley I think you have missed the main point of my post. In short summary, in the summer last year because of the previous season, the great form Liverpool had at the end of the year, the new owners and the general feel good factor around the place LFC was a pretty attractive place for footballers to go.

The 4 CL qualifiers were obviously going to be preferred by any potential targets but outside of those Liverpool may have been an even more attractive prospect than Tottenham as they looked to be going places whereas Tottenham didn't appear to be up to a huge amount (a star player wanting out really didn't help matters there either)

Liverpool, its staff and its fans could point to CL qualification as a somewhat realistic goal for the next season and they really did seem like they were on the up

This coming summer, especially if Liverpool's form continues who will join Liverpool on the basis they are potential CL qualifiers? Nobody who is expecting it in the short term, maybe one or two players will choose you over similarly placed sides (the likes of Swansea, Newcastle, Everton) on the basis you will probably be aiming for the CL long term.

Do you disagree that Liverpool look further away from potential CL qualifiers this year than they did last?

I think even some of the more optimistic Liverpool fans will not be expecting CL qualification next year, whereas this year quite a lot thought they would get it or get close. I can only imagine players looking at the situation would feel the same way.

Lastly the Newcastle thing was a side point, but if we ignore any glorious history and the fact Liverpool are much more likely to splash out than Newcastle and far less likely to sell star players. Ignoring those things so you just judging on the teams performances and results this year... why would you pick Liverpool over Newcastle?

The only basis I can see for doing so is a Carling cup win.

Short summary

Considering I failed a course on the basis of not being able to write 5000 words on something related to why I want to be a mathematician I don't half bloody ramble when I get going.

Apologies Ripley, I hope the essay isn't too taxing to read!

To both RipleysCat and Fred. I'm envious. Each of you can post to standard I can only dream of. You are each 100% correct in your analysis, I wouldn't dream of challenging either of you, although you do hold opposing views! My view remains the same: ta
K or replacing KD now or even at the end of the season is just hot air, frustration emanating from two defeats. Give him time Fred, he'll prove me right. By the way, I don't know how the weather is in France Fred, but it is a beautiful sunny day down here in Kent, a new day, a new dawn, with everything to go for. YNWA JimmyTheRed

Lovely weather here too but I'm stuck in an office