While David Frew dismissed @Us_monster’s (8^th Jan, Kenny Dalglish: Managing the decline) attack as a baseless, biased diatribe he felt it incumbent on himself, as a LFC fan, to retort.

LFC Fan description

@Us_Monster: “Bullish”, “…trademarked caveat of ‘next season’ ”

@Forcefrewgood: Firstly, I totally refute the allegation that the majority of Liverpool fans blindly insist LFC will win the league every season. This is just a fallacy rival fans and lazy journalists trot out. I do accept that Scousers are an optimistic bunch and I think that is the right way to be. I’d rather be looking to the stars than staring into the gutter!

Kenny Dalglish and the Racism Row

@Us_Monster: “…tarnish LFC by associating it with racial intolerance”

@Forcefrewgood: The answer to this could be a whole blog in itself! However, I do think KK and LFC got the response (tone and wording) to this whole affair wrong. The official line should have been, “Racism is wrong. Suarez is not a racist. If a cultural difference has lead to offence then we apologise”. I felt we were far too antagonistic and demonstrative in our response. I know where Liverpool are coming from – they need to protect their player from the inevitable witch hunt, scaremongering and exaggeration from the media but I think they badly misjudged it. I do agree with @Us_Monster that this tone was set by KK and he must accept blame.

Kenny Dalglish and Roy Hodgson

@Us_Monster: “…stabbing Roy Hodgson in the back”

@Forcefrewgood: This myth really does exasperate me. Roy Hodgson apologists (and LFC haters) would have you believe that ol’ uncle Woy was weaving miracles on a shoe string budget until he was unjustly jettisoned. Woy presided over the worst start to a league campaign for 57 years which left Liverpool a paltry 3 points above the relegation zone. Regardless of budget constraints many of these results were simply not good enough based on the players at his disposal. Woy’s dismissal was of his own making.

Kenny Dalglish’s qualifications

@Us_Monster: “…what qualifications does Dalglish have as a manager?”

@Forcefrewgood: I don’t think @Us_Monster fools anybody by glossing over KK’s 3 First Division titles, 1 Premier League title and two FA Cups. KK is qualified to manage. I’ll be honest the length of time away from the game and previous reasons for departure are causes for concerns but not prohibitive ones and especially not so for the initial 6 month contract offered to KK.

Andy Carroll

@Us_Monster:  “…the worst signing in world football history”

@Forcefrewgood: We don’t have a crystal ball so we don’t know if this is going to be the case. What if Andy Carroll starts scoring? It may be semantics to say @Us_Monster should have said “…potentially the worst signing in world football history”. I agree £35m is steep and to a large extent a gamble but I, for one, am pleased that KK rolled the dice and had a go. Man United, Chelsea and Man City were (and still are) considerably ahead of Liverpool. The gap isn’t going to be closed by incremental steps we need something spectacular that would take teams by surprise. This is Andy’s first season and he’s finding the transition to a bigger club and return to fitness difficult. However, his 11 EPL goals in 19 games and bullying of Man United and Arsenal backlines with Newcastle show considerable potential. Let’s not forget that after his £30m move to Man United, Berbatov only scored 9 league goals in his first season, 12 in his second and arguably didn’t come good till his third season. Andy Carroll will be afforded the same time before any rash statements are bandied about.

Kenny Dalglish’s tactics

@Us_Monster:  “…stuck in the dark ages”

@Forcefrewgood: I just don’t see this. In fact KK’s tactical and formation flexibility have been one of my highlights of his tenure. I did think Rafa could be a bit formulaic and repetitive in his approach but I’ve found KK refreshing open to change. We’ve played with 3 centre backs, traditional big-man small man up top, single man up front (tall and small) and with an interchanging front 5. I view the signing of Carroll more as KK wanting the option to go traditional with a big man-small man combo as opposed to always playing that way.

Kenny Dalglish’s transfers

@Us_Monster:  “…premium for the average Charlie Adam”, “…missed out on the talented Phil Jones”, “…Suarez (deal)…smacks of pure Comolli opportunism”

@Forcefrewgood: I’m not even going to argue with the ‘average’ tag for Charlie Adam but I am with the ‘premium’ part. Adam cost £7m – in today’s market you have to pay £7m for average players.

As I’ve previously argued (29^th Aug: Fergie The Flat Track Transfer Bully) you can’t lose when you were not even in the race. If the Champions come in for you, you go. The transfer of Phil Jones is of no reflection on KK whatsoever.

KK hasn’t come out once and tried to claim credit for any of Liverpool transfers. One thing you can be certain of is that Liverpool will buy no player that KK does not approve so by extension he’s involved in one capacity or another in all purchases.

 @forcefrewgood