Mauling hapless West Ham delays inevitable

AND the inevitable is delayed for another week. It’s a sad moment in a supporter’s life when a victory is welcomed so politely, almost begrudgingly.

It normally takes a few years into a manager’s tenure for that lethargy to creep in. 2010 is no ordinary year.

As the Dalglish chants subsided at Stoke, people flung curses at the manager walking from the ‘battlefield’. I’ve read Carragher shouted something back, not always the most judicious thing to do at such times.

Some, of course, genuinely want Dalglish in the job. My own tepid welcome for Roy in this very paper last July also mentioned the idea of Kenny as general manager and a young, talented coach by his side.

Whoever the successor turns out to be — and despite any deference one can muster for Hodgson, the choice WILL have to be made — the fans can’t expect to coerce Henry and Werner so transparently into the most important decision of their tenure.

Roy never was going to unify the support. Those who wanted Rafa to stay and those who wanted Kenny to replace him have been collectively up in arms from day one.

The rest of us were singularly unimpressed, as it turns out with good reason.

But using Dalglish as a battering ram is most likely to see all sides entrenched and see a year of barricade-manning succumb to its inevitably conclusion.

What the team’s going to do without Gerrard is anybody’s guess. Capello’s grotesque hard-man hypocrisy cut no ice. He knew full well what the crowd reaction would be if he replaced our man while France were 2-0 up and bottled it. Which didn’t stop him protecting Ferdinand and Barry at 1-0.

I suspect Gerrard’s feelings held some sway. For some unfathomable reason he still seems to believe he’s in danger of losing his England place. Rafa found his best position and thus the form of his life during 2008 and 2009, a more forward role that he will probablynever get off Capello.

That this may have even slightly influenced Liverpool team selection in the past does not bear thinking about.

It’s true that he no longer has Mascherano and Alonso-style quality behind him, but Meireles hadn’t even been given a chance there before Saturday. Had our main man faced West Ham it would have been his fifth full game in a fortnight. Once those infinite number of monkeys finish writing ‘Hamlet’, maybe they should get a crack at the fixture list. They can’t do worse.

So Gerard’s injury and Leiva’s ban got Raul back in the centre, and pretty good he was too. Yes, West Ham were dreadful but at least we made them look it. The second half closed out to an inevitable crawl. There were no Dalglish chants, just a sullen silence which indicated the thrashing of fodder wasn’t likely to extricate Roy from his dilemma. Nobody is looking forward to Tottenham. It’s the surest of sure things. Surely?