Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish accepts the task of restoring the club to their once-envied position in European football will not be an easy one.

The Scot enjoyed a hugely successful career as a player at Anfield and continued that into his first spell in charge as Reds boss.

One of the most damning statistics which highlights the decline of a club so dominant at home and abroad from the late 1970s through to the late 1980s is that Dalglish is the last Liverpool manager to win the league championship 22 years ago.

Since then Manchester United have taken their place at the top of English football and, with Manchester City having flexed their considerable financial muscle to become genuine title contenders and Tottenham adding their name to the so-called `big four` Liverpool's - and Dalglish's task - has become even tougher.

They have not helped themselves this season as, just when it looked as though they were well poised to make a late run for Champions League qualification, having missed out the last two seasons, results have collapsed.

The Reds are now eighth in the table, enduring their worst run of form since 1953, and are 16 points adrift of fourth place, with the relegation zone (12 points) closer.

"It is always difficult to get back to where they were because they were so high up,'' admitted Dalglish.

"But it (the method for success) has not changed too much really - it takes a lot of hard work and a lot of effort.

"We have good players who can get there but you need confidence and belief in yourself and you need a bit of luck.

"We can work as hard as we possibly can and if we do our side of it then at least we can look at ourselves and say we had a right go at it.

"At every football club it is [about] hard work but I can't believe how hard work is a bonus for people.

"I think that was taken as given that you work hard; so for us we'll work hard because you get nothing if you don't.

"These lads are genuine and honest and they have worked really hard to get any success they have had.

"We just have to keep on going and believing and try to keep our confidence up that the hard work will be rewarded eventually.''

With confidence visibly ebbing away with every loss, the players will find themselves tested at home to Aston Villa as ever-present goalkeeper Jose Reina begins a three-match suspension after his red card at Newcastle on Sunday.

He is likely to be replaced by Doni, the summer signing from Roma who will be making his competitive debut having played 57 minutes of an October friendly against Rangers before dislocating a finger.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish believes Dalglish is under as much pressure as any other manager ahead of the clash between the teams.

McLeish has urged his players not to have any fear against the Merseysiders - even though injuries and illness have left him without several senior players.

The Scot said: "There's pressure on everybody. I know what Kenny will be feeling. I know Liverpool are 11 players with two legs - the same as everybody else.

"That's why we should not have any fear going to Anfield. At the same time you would be thinking that Kenny will be looking for a reaction from their players.

"As I say, everybody is under pressure regardless of whether they are in the top half of the table or the bottom.

"From now until the end of the season, every single manager, every single player, will be under pressure at some time, without doubt.''

McLeish added: "Is it a good time to play at Liverpool? It's been a formidable place and I'm sure they will want to make it a formidable place again. In recent times it hasn't been as formidable.

"That has got to be the challenge for Kenny in the coming weeks, months and years.

"Right at this moment in time we are going up to face Liverpool, and they are going through a little bit of a sticky spell, so, quite simply, we have got to try to prolong that spell.''

Right-back Alan Hutton is expected to be fit after missing the 4-2 home defeat by Chelsea last weekend with a calf injury but rookie striker Andreas Weimann is doubtful with an ankle injury.

Captain Stiliyan Petrov (leukaemia), winger Charles N'Zogbia (knee), striker Darren Bent (ankle), defenders Richard Dunne (shoulder) and Carlos Cuellar (thigh) and midfielder Fabian Delph (ankle) are all unavailable.

Match

Is Liverpool still in the premiership?

^
sharaaaap


game on!

villa scores

Took just 9 minutes for Doni to pick the ball from his net in his 1st competetive appearance for Liverpool. . . Sorry guy.

Liverpool looks like a championship team

Gombs: Liverpool looks like a championship team

Quite true

:oAnybody heard? https://www.nairaland.com/909302

this losser pool team na waooooooooooooo. una go kill person oh, which one bi dis noww ? every team just dey take una cloct three point sha, na championship be that sooooo, looser pool welcome to championship , lol

fng: :oAnybody heard? https://www.nairaland.com/909302

Behave yourself o

Nice post thanks for sharing.[img]http://www.lzxin.info/g.php[/img]

I hope after this loss, Liverpool and their fans will now be in no doubts that their team is mediocre?

Lol

Suarez!
Liverpool level. . .

game over

LOOSER POOL FANS , HOW MARKET TODAY AGAIN LOL

pres-elect:
Is Liverpool still in the premiership?

lmao

Dalglish GO! We don't want you! Please Rafa come back!

At last we manage to draw a game of football. In as much as I don't like what is happening now I don't think changing the manager is the solution.He made some bad sighning they should allow him to correct his error.Selling Mireles was one and buying Hendo and Andy for a combine fee oF 55m is criminal.But if eventually we need to change our manager we should go for RODOLFO BORElL.the youth coach that came in during RAFA era. He was with BARCA and has coached the likes of Messi and other player in barca.RODOLFO currently have many good player like cornor cordy,sterllin,adam morgan,amoo,NgOo,suso,eccelston.the list endless.

ADA---ADA:
LOOSER POOL FANS , HOW MARKET TODAY AGAIN LOL

What's happening to Liverpool?

emsquare:

What's happening to Liverpool?

Guy what is happening is very simple. Liverpool was once the most successful club in England. They got high off their success and became arrogant. Meanwhile, upstarts like Man United and Arsenal were catching up in terms of footballing culture and income generation. When the Premier League started, Man United then ran away with it, occasionally challenged by Arsenal. Liverpool were coming 3rd, 2nd, 4th consistently but never really challenging for the title. Yet they continued viewing themselves as the top dogs with their 18 league titles. Meanwhile Man U was expanding Old Trafford to 76,000, Arsenal was building a new stadium, Chelsea was expanding Stamford Bridge, and Man City got the rights to the 2002 Commonwealth games stadium (now the Etihad). Anfield remained at 45,000 capacity, but Liverpool FC refused to move into the future. Even when players like Michael Owen decided to move on to bigger clubs like Real Madrid, Liverpool still kept on deluding themselves that they were the biggest and best club in the world. Liverpool was the last club in the premier league to set up an official website. Initially the club resisted the idea, insisting that there was no need to adopt new modes of operation and connect with overseas fans - only the local (Scouse) fans mattered. Eventually after years of underachievement, they brought in a foreign manager for the first time, Gerard Houllier. He brought the club into the 21st century and in 2001 they won the UEFA cup along with the league cup and FA Cup. In 2004 after Houllier left, they brought in Rafa Benitez, a young successful manager who had broken the duopoly of Real Madrid and Barca in La Liga with Valencia two years in a row. They won the Champions League in 2005.

However, being the history-obsessed club that it is, many Liverpool fans and senior players felt that the LOCAL element was being sidelined, and that Rafa Benitez was destroying the HISTORY of Liverpool fc by bringing in new ideas and systems. He sacked all the old backroom staff and brought in his own modern Spanish staff like Rodolfo Borrell, the ex-Barca youth team coach. This made him very unpopular at the club even though on the pitch Liverpool was actually a force to be reckoned with for the first time in nearly 20 years (in 2008, Liverpool was ranked the no 1 team in Europe ahead of Barca and Madrid). Rafa was also having trouble with the new American owners who were taking money out of the club to fund their leveraged buyout. In 2010, despite reaching the semifinals of the Europa league and finishing four points off a champions league spot after losing Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid, Rafa Benitez was sacked with support from senior players like Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher.

After the Roy Hodgson debacle, Liverpool fc AGAIN refused to move forward into the 21st century and chose to appoint a club legend who had been out of the game for 15 years. Kenny Dalglish last managed a top flight team in England in 1996, and failed to get a Newcastle team packed with stars like Faustino Asprilla out of their Champions League group. He is also a manager who has no knowledge of football outside of Britain and as such tends to go for players already playing in the premier league or SPL. HE still subscribes to the 1980s formula for success with the 4-4-2 system, playing traditional wingers and a 'little and large' strike partnership. He tried to do this by spending £130 million in total on Andy Carroll, Luis Suarez, Charlie Adam, Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing. Of these signings, only Luis Suarez actually has an observable amount of basic footballing skill and talent. But the others being British players, they are hyped up the the UK media and built up as something more than the horrible mediocres that they actually are.

Liverpool fc is a club stuck in yesterday, obsessed with its glorious days in the 70s and 80s. It is completely anachronistic in every way, from its support for a racist player to its refusal to adapt from the ancient 4-4-2.
Simply put, it is an Aston Villa waiting to happen.

Am not a Liverpool fan but one enjoys their flamboyant style of play with long accurate passes. All this has gone done the drain which from what I have seen is due to lack of commitment from the place. The coach on his own has failed to revamp their lost confidence. I think a very drastic decision should b taken about "iverpool management otherwise I see them as potential points donor to both small and big clubs in England.

@daz_york
You're so right on point. Sadly true. And I don't know why they are reluctant to buy or use black players. However, I remain a red kopite all the way. if they like make dem go championship. Red rules

And wait, we won the carling cup this yr what did arsenal win? And Chelsea? Or tottenham? And watch out, you'll see red fire in the fa cup next weekend. We will start with everton.

Watch out for us.

daz_york:

Guy what is happening is very simple. Liverpool was once the most successful club in England. They got high off their success and became arrogant. Meanwhile, upstarts like Man United and Arsenal were catching up in terms of footballing culture and income generation. When the Premier League started, Man United then ran away with it, occasionally challenged by Arsenal. Liverpool were coming 3rd, 2nd, 4th consistently but never really challenging for the title. Yet they continued viewing themselves as the top dogs with their 18 league titles. Meanwhile Man U was expanding Old Trafford to 76,000, Arsenal was building a new stadium, Chelsea was expanding Stamford Bridge, and Man City got the rights to the 2002 Commonwealth games stadium (now the Etihad). Anfield remained at 45,000 capacity, but Liverpool FC refused to move into the future. Even when players like Michael Owen decided to move on to bigger clubs like Real Madrid, Liverpool still kept on deluding themselves that they were the biggest and best club in the world. Liverpool was the last club in the premier league to set up an official website. Initially the club resisted the idea, insisting that there was no need to adopt new modes of operation and connect with overseas fans - only the local (Scouse) fans mattered. Eventually after years of underachievement, they brought in a foreign manager for the first time, Gerard Houllier. He brought the club into the 21st century and in 2001 they won the UEFA cup along with the league cup and FA Cup. In 2004 after Houllier left, they brought in Rafa Benitez, a young successful manager who had broken the duopoly of Real Madrid and Barca in La Liga with Valencia two years in a row. They won the Champions League in 2005.

However, being the history-obsessed club that it is, many Liverpool fans and senior players felt that the LOCAL element was being sidelined, and that Rafa Benitez was destroying the HISTORY of Liverpool fc by bringing in new ideas and systems. He sacked all the old backroom staff and brought in his own modern Spanish staff like Rodolfo Borrell, the ex-Barca youth team coach. This made him very unpopular at the club even though on the pitch Liverpool was actually a force to be reckoned with for the first time in nearly 20 years (in 2008, Liverpool was ranked the no 1 team in Europe ahead of Barca and Madrid). Rafa was also having trouble with the new American owners who were taking money out of the club to fund their leveraged buyout. In 2010, despite reaching the semifinals of the Europa league and finishing four points off a champions league spot after losing Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid, Rafa Benitez was sacked with support from senior players like Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher.

After the Roy Hodgson debacle, Liverpool fc AGAIN refused to move forward into the 21st century and chose to appoint a club legend who had been out of the game for 15 years. Kenny Dalglish last managed a top flight team in England in 1996, and failed to get a Newcastle team packed with stars like Faustino Asprilla out of their Champions League group. He is also a manager who has no knowledge of football outside of Britain and as such tends to go for players already playing in the premier league or SPL. HE still subscribes to the 1980s formula for success with the 4-4-2 system, playing traditional wingers and a 'little and large' strike partnership. He tried to do this by spending £130 million in total on Andy Carroll, Luis Suarez, Charlie Adam, Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing. Of these signings, only Luis Suarez actually has an observable amount of basic footballing skill and talent. But the others being British players, they are hyped up the the UK media and built up as something more than the horrible mediocres that they actually are.

Liverpool fc is a club stuck in yesterday, obsessed with its glorious days in the 70s and 80s. It is completely anachronistic in every way, from its support for a racist player to its refusal to adapt from the ancient 4-4-2.
Simply put, it is an Aston Villa waiting to happen.

Nice write up...sums everything up

Say wat u av to say, all i know is that a fan from a small club can't rubbish liverpool.

U get mouth

Underrate Liverpool at you own peril