Dalglish: I don't see why Liverpool can't win the title
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I don't see why Liverpool can't win the title, says Kenny Dalglish
Anfield legend makes a bold prediction that goes against the tide of despondency at Liverpool
Kenny Dalglish believes Liverpool are not far off being title contenders, with enough playing strength to build on.Kenny Dalglish has a confession to make. He can remember playing worse games for Liverpool than Fernando Torres managed at Birmingham last week, a performance that drew personal criticism so strong Roy Hodgson had to speak up in defence of his striker.
"I had nightmares too, lots of them," Dalglish says. "The thing is, I can remember them when most people don't. When you start looking back, people only want to remember the good times, and I'm sure that will happen with Fernando. He's a fantastic player, we should realise how lucky we are to have him, because when he finishes there will be no dispute about how good he was. He will just be remembered as a great. And for having a good record against Manchester United."
A statistic that is bound to get a good airing this weekend is that Liverpool have not won the league for 20 years. With constant repetition, the ever-widening gap is beginning to acquire the emptiness of a cliche.
So what? Plenty of teams have not won the league for more than 20 years, including Everton, Spurs and Manchester City. But those teams did not win the league in 10 of the previous 15 seasons. As Dalglish says, you could probably have got yourself sectioned in 1990 for suggesting Liverpool would go two decades without a title.
This afternoon's trip to Old Trafford holds no particular terror for a team that beat United 4-1 on the same ground two seasons ago, but in their two away games to date under Hodgson Liverpool have not been able to score a goal, much less claim a win.
Joe Cole's suspension has not helped, and neither has an apparent over-reliance on a striker in Torres who has only rarely been sufficiently free from injury or exhaustion to do himself justice, but last week's wretched performance at Birmingham had people asking whether that was really the best Liverpool could do. If so, it was unkindly suggested, it might be another 20 years before they manage to finish above Chelsea or Arsenal.
Taking a quick dip into the barn-tub of professional opinion on Merseyside on the subject this week, one could find Mark Lawrenson arguing that Glen Johnson should be used as a winger rather than a full-back. "Liverpool must shake up the midfield more in future away games," he said. "The defence won't concede many so there's no reason not to go for a win, and we know how costly draws can be from bitter experience. The midfield at Birmingham was much too cautious and careful for my liking. There needs to be more happening out wide to make an attacking statement."
John Aldridge was in broad agreement. "Torres took all the stick, but how was he supposed to threaten with no one supplying him?" the former striker said. "The team is crying out for someone to provide invention down the flanks, and pairing Lucas and Christian Poulsen at the centre of midfield suggested Roy Hodgson was happy to settle for a point."
Birmingham are no mugs, of course, and with the two Manchester teams completing an awkward trio of away games Liverpool have not been granted the easiest of starts.
But unless Torres and Steven Gerrard can engineer a turn-up this afternoon to rival the March 2009 one, their already slim hopes of title contention will begin to fade for another season. That may seem a premature conclusion, but it is the sort of pressure Liverpool put on themselves, as Dalglish knows better than most.
"If Blackburn can win the Premier League I don't see why Liverpool should not be able to," he says, conveniently neglecting to mention that in 1995 when Jack Walker was spending all the money there was no Chelsea or Manchester City to worry about.
"Maybe not this season but soon. If you look at the playing strength there is more than enough to build on. There aren't many better goalkeepers than José Reina or defenders better than Jamie Carragher, and practically any club in the world would be interested in players of the quality of Torres and Steven Gerrard. We were close to the title two years ago and we can get close again.
"People have different ideas about how to play the game but I don't think Liverpool's overall philosophy has changed much. They are playing one striker up front and one dropping off now and that's similar to what I used to do. Torres may have had a bad game last weekend but that doesn't make him a bad player. I think he might be finding it hard because he has not had a rest for three years, but if I were in his shoes I might take all that criticism as a roundabout compliment. It shows how many good games he's had when everyone jumps on him for having a bad one. I went 26 games one year without scoring a goal so Fernando has a way to go yet."