KOP News # 1034

LIVERPOOL 1 - WIGAN 2: KENNY DALGLISH NEEDS QUICK ANSWERS

 

Gary Caldwell silences the Kop with his winner

Monday March 26,2012

By Paul Joyce

AS Wigan owner Dave Whelan was deluged with congratulations from the magnanimous home support, it was tempting to gaze to the other end of the directors' box in search of his Liverpool counterpart.

John W Henry was not there of course – it seems he rarely is – though guessing his mood some 3,000 miles away in Boston was not difficult.

Henry will hope to make an appearance again before the season is over with Liverpool still optimistic about reaching the FA Cup final. But whether it is face to face or on the telephone, some sort of debrief with manager Kenny Dalglish will take place.

The list of questions from Henry's Fenway Sports Group in need of answers lengthens by the week – a traumatic few days have seen QPR and now Wigan leave their illustrious opponents humbled and humiliated.

Why has a campaign that the American owners presumed would propel Liverpool back into the Champions League following a spending spree that reached £113SHrS million pre-season started to unravel so alarmingly?

Why should Dalglish be given more money to spend this summer when his £35m record signing Andy Carroll started on the bench, his hopelessly-out-of-touch £16m midfielder Jordan Henderson was substituted at the interval and his £20m winger Stewart Downing was withdrawn with 17 minutes left of a contest Wigan closed out comfortably?

The Kop went quiet and those are the moments you play football for

Gary Caldwell

Carroll has hardly impressed, but of the last seven games he started Liverpool have won six and drawn one.

In contrast, the last seven matches the striker has not started his team-mates have won none, drawn twice and lost five.

Those statistics are something of a surprise, but it is up to Dalglish to explain whether they are anything other than mere coincidence.

Henry will know changing the man in the dug-out would be hugely expensive. But nagging away at the back of his mind will be reminders that his initial instinct last season was to appoint a younger manager.

Dalglish would do well to remember that as he endeavours to nip in the bud the argument his reign has run its course already.

There are days such as Saturday when the display is so abject that supporters will wonder if they will ever win a league title again.

Then there are other moments when the gap with England's new order does not seem to be the gulf the league table suggests it is.

Liverpool, after all, are in possession of the only major silverware of the season so far with a return to European competition guaranteed as a result.

Then there are the mitigating circumstances. The absence of Lucas since the start of December, the destabilising effect of the Luis Suarez saga, the penalty misses and the realisation Jamie Carragher cannot go on for ever.

They may all sound like excuses, but sometimes they can also reflect the truth. Dalglish, however, needs to start helping himself.

Complaints his side were tired did not sit easily, especially given he had dismissed just 24 hours earlier the theory that aching limbs could be a factor.

The introduction of Raheem Sterling, 17, for his senior debut with just five minutes to go also smelled of a political substitution to garner favour with a crowd that is growing increasingly twitchy.

Wigan deserved their day in the sun. What will please manager Roberto Martinez most is the manner in which his players did not panic when Suarez cancelled out Shaun Maloney's penalty.

Gary Caldwell's finish belied the touch of a central defender and sealed a first Premier League win at Anfield.

"The Kop went quiet and those are the moments you play football for," he said. "Winning here is a fantastic achievement, no matter how they've been playing recently. It's still Liverpool at Anfield.

"We hope this could be a defining moment in our season, a first (away) win against a team that is a member of the old Big Four."

Caldwell inadvertently rubbed salt in gaping wounds. Liverpool – one of the old Big Four – are fast becoming yesterday's men.