Date: 4th January 2012 at 11:00pm
Written by:

I am never one to criticize Kenny Dalglish but I feel he got is wrong on Tuesday night against Manchester City. When I saw the Manchester City starting lineup prior to kick off, I had a really good feeling that Liverpool could be able to match and beat that side.

But then when I saw what King Kenny had opted to start with, I was largely disappointed. In my opinion and from what I have seen of Liverpool so far this season against the ‘bigger’ clubs, we tend to play them on the counter and we have had great success with that. I would have thought we would have done the same against City but alas.

Do do well on the counter and against a side like City, we needed some pace in our side and for me, Bellamy should have started ahead of Kuyt. Yes, Bellamy may have been a bit tired following the Newcastle game but he would have been up for the challenge against his former club and given 110% for 90 minutes.
You could see when he came on off the bench last night how his injection of pace helped the side.

The second point Dalglish got wrong was not starting with Steven Gerrard. Yes, Gerrard may only be coming back from injury but he has looked good in his previous two outings and in such a big match, you need a big player and just the sheer presence of Gerrard on the pitch for 90 minutes could have been the difference.

I am still not a fan of Andy Carroll and I believe that his presence in the side is changing our style of play to suite him. All too often last night we were sending high balls towards Carroll and crossing the ball to the big man but with no final product. Pass and move on the ground is the Liverpool style of play and we should stick to that even if we do not have Suarez in the side. It is difficult to pass and move with Carroll upfront as his ball control and touch needs a lot to be desired.

Liverpool are going to bounce back against Oldham in the FA Cup and I am sure Kenny is going to look back at the City game and see where he can tinker the squad.

 

14 responses to “How Dalglish got it wrong against Manchester City”

  1. crazyhorse says:

    I felt the same about the starting line up kuyt was also at fault with the first goal(losing the ball in a dangerous position)i think his time as also come to end sadly,i dont see
    why we had to leave gerrard on the bench when the only two other midfield players adam and henderson are very poor.Also
    we can not keep on playing carroll as a lone striker without
    proper back up,in other words goalscoring midfielders,iam losing faith with kennys buys who are not what we need at this club if we are ever going to challenge for honours.

    • byrnesey says:

      I Agree I think he should of waited till after the match to start suarez’s ban too.I think Downing has been absolutely useless for us and should be dropped for maxi I cant understand why he wont play Maxi.

    • Chan says:

      It’s nothing new, this is the KD we knew the whole season, out of touch with the modern game, tactically naive and bad judge of players. The same man that gave us Carroll, Hendo, Downing at inflated prices and now costing us points.
      The only saving grace is Suarez and Enrique. There is only one soulution, KD MUST BE SACK NOW. By keeping KD, we risk losing further ground to our traditional rivals not to mention new ones such as Spurs and Newcastle.
      On another note, i fully support Suarez and believe he is no racist. There always had been a grand conspiracy against us and the goons at the FA (with the behind the scenes shenigans of Manure of course) wasted no time in trying to wear our best player down. Suarez is made ofr sterner stuff of course. YNWA Suarez BUT KD would have to.

  2. calvin10 says:

    Very disappointed in downing playing on the right side of midfield,he uses his speed on the wings then goes back stopping the attack.he clearly doesn’t believe in the early ball.a good example is when gerard came off the bench against newcastle he deliverd the early ball to carrol

  3. Martinmarx says:

    Not sure I agree. He got it wrong, that I agree on. We don’t have personel to play 4-5-1 so why persist? Why persist with the hopeles Henderson and why take off our best performer and keep Jordan? Why not play Bellers together with Carrol? Why Downing ahead of Maxi who almost always do well against stronger opposition? The questions are many but the answers are few. The one thing we know after a year, is we’re not moving forward with Kenny. He’s letting whatever quality we have rot on the bench to pay his worthless signings. Maybe he learned that stubborness from Rafa? We’re seriously declining and as much I respect the man for what he’s done for the club he ain’t the right man to lead Liverpool FC. A manager must be able to sign at least decent players, chose a formation that suits the squad and play his best team. Kenny fail all three criteria. THAT will be the reasn we’ll go 3 seasons without CL-footy.

  4. Gavin says:

    Finally a post against kenny and his squad selection . I cannot understand why bella didnt start! Agree on Carroll also , Kompany was player of the match BECAUSE all we did was put in useless crosses. Once Carroll get it to his feet LIKE Henderson all he does it pass it off . I am having a very hard time accepting Henderson as a 90 minute player each game , shelvey atleast can score goals. Why does kenny take of adam everytime Gerrard comes on? Though both have similar styles I feel both would open up the game and give useless andy a better chance at scoring, instead of Henderson tucked away on the right side feeding it to Johnson every game
    YNWA

  5. Dom says:

    What you guys really expecting from this match, i hope it wasnt a win because that means you are seriously deluded. This Man city has been unstoppable at home and even with our best team out we would of struggled, we need to be realistic.

  6. garrard says:

    never liverpool will qualif in CL bkz every season liverpool playing the same shit and u know y KING kenny did not put maxi gerrard and bellamy bkz they sell the mach bkz man utd was behind city that while and reina mistake and then i understand while bkz they sell the mach and the same when liverpool was play again chelsea gerrard was back pass with lampard and then lampard was score bkz man u was the same point again city football its come like a bussnes and i hope mc mannaman will come the maneger for liverpool bkz dalglish hi steel think in 19 88 and they play all style football prefer spurs its good than us prefer liverpool relegate its butter bkz we nt good unf bkz no more presure our players they look like they r playing footbal on zoo if liverpool really want for chapions league they shuld pruve it like spurs or man utd when always i see the premier league table man utd 1 place or second but nt 3rd place always utd 2 or 1st place but y liverpool nt bkz when they play again small clud liverpool think will beat them and then when u see the final result liverpool lost by 2 1 or draws win verry little but if liverpool play again big team alway i think liverpool will win the game bkz i have the full confident and filling aboute my self kz i kwon liverpool well the same manner like before so when yesterday i saw the formation vs city this the i told my friend u khow liverpool r gonna to loost that one bkz we nt select our striker bellamy maxi and hold midfilder gerrard thats downing did nt score the 1st chance how u will explane that but for sure in the carling cup liverpool will beat city 4 sure just trust me bkz i know liverpool well when i wa 4 year old i was support liverpool now i am 29 old i am steel liverpool fans like a blood fans

  7. Martinmarx says:

    Not a word I don’t agree with there Garrard.

  8. Fred says:

    I think its time we drop carrol because he has changed our style of play

  9. alex says:

    Kenny got it wrong from day one
    Spening 35m on carrol ,18on downing ,22m on hendersson,,,,
    and selling Aqu and merllies,,,keep ing those 2 ,and spending money above on too great attackers ,we would be able to win things ,,nowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww no way,, thanks Kenny
    its all wrong

  10. Philip says:

    I av waited for a post on KKD, he is the problem of liverpool, if u notice it that whenever he uses a good squad as expected we r always a better side. He never sticks to a player that produces in every match. I am hell sick of seeing carrol on the pitch, he’s just a useless player, he does not pose a threat in d box n still crucial crosses come to him and he just lacks positioning. He’s got loads to learn, he’s can aonly play 10mins to the end of any game. YNWA.

  11. Philip says:

    We bought carrol for his stong use of head in d face of goal but he hasnt scored still with that useless head, n his legs are crippled i must say, he gets a pass , sends it away n runs to the box 18 for a cross and cannot deliver. Wrong positioning. He should be dropped

  12. Greg says:

    Dalglish has gotten it wrong with his lineups all season.. why would it have changed against City??? Dalgish’s last chance to redeem himself is in the Jan window. So far his transfer dealings have been very poor and completely based on his Brit fetish..if he gets it wrong again in Jan he needs to go…