Kenny’s back and the players have nowhere to hide
A grinning Kenny Dalglish threw in a lame gag of his own in the pre-match interview: “What will I tell them? I’ll keep that to the players. You’re not working for Fergie are you?”
Within a minute of the start Dimitar Berbatov had won United a penalty with a delayed dive that boasted great comic timing. By the end it had turned into such a festival of comedy for Manchester United that they could afford to bring on Michael Owen to trundle about for the last 20 minutes.
Maybe the biggest joke of the day was the suggestion that everyone is supposed to feel sympathy for Roy Hodgson after he walked away from the Anfield wreckage with a reported payoff of €9m. With the possible exception of investment banking (Merrill Lynch CEO Stan O’Neal received a $160m severance package after leading the bank to losses of $8 billion), no profession rewards failure quite like football management. At least in O’Neal’s case there was no pious talk about how Merrill had shabbily mistreated a decent man.
The manager’s job as traditionally understood in English football has four main components: team selection and in-game management; coaching the players on the training ground; buying and selling players on the transfer market; and representing the club in the media.
Liverpool have hired Damien Comolli to take charge of transfers, so Dalglish’s responsibilities in that area will be limited. Meanwhile, the indications are that Steve Clarke will be brought in as assistant manager to take care of training. Having worked in recent years with Jose Mourinho and Gianfranco Zola, Clarke is well up to speed with best practice.
So that leaves Dalglish with his matchday and media duties. As one of the most intelligent players of his generation and a title-winning manager with two clubs, it’s fair to say Dalglish can read the game.
The weeks to come will tell us more about whether that skill is prone to atrophy through lack of practice, but the initial signs at Old Trafford were promising.
Dalglish’s team selection made more sense than any of Roy Hodgson’s recent XIs. Glen Johnson’s partner chose a good day to go into labour, rendering his long-overdue replacement by Martin Kelly an automatic decision, but the inclusion of Daniel Agger instead of the clumsy Sotirios Kyrgiakos in defence suggested a promising change of emphasis.
In recent weeks Hodgson had taken to starting Fernando Torres and David Ngog up front, even though they are kryptonite to each other. Dalglish chose to use Torres alone, with Gerrard and Meireles supporting from a midfield anchored by Lucas. The extra man in midfield meant Liverpool could press United high up the pitch and, when they had the ball, they tried to work their way forward with short, patient passing.
Despite the early concession of the penalty, Liverpool’s first half-hour was encouraging. Then Steven Gerrard, the boy who never grew up, threw away a promising start with an idiotic two-footed lunge on Carrick that seemed partly retaliation for Rafael’s hefty challenge on Meireles moments before, partly revenge for Carrick’s early reducer on Gerrard.
Maybe one day Liverpool’s captain will learn to put the team first.
The biggest question about Dalglish concerns how he will cope with the constant demands of the 24 hour media environment. His recent book revealed a man whose talent on the field was matched only by his sensitivity to criticism, a man who was quick to take offence at comparatively minor slights, whether directed at him personally or Liverpool as a club.
He will have to toughen up fast because there will be a lot of barbs coming his way, some of them from Ferguson, who wrote loftily in yesterday’s programme that Liverpool had “bugged” him when he first arrived in English football.
However, Dalglish has one great advantage over his predecessor, who was well-regarded by most of the media, is that he represents the club the way the Liverpool supporters want.
Whether it is warranted or not, most of them have faith that he knows what he’s doing.
Now that most of the crowd are satisfied with the man in the dugout, their gaze will turn pitilessly towards players who have nowhere left to hide.
