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Keane: Gerrard, Reina & Co must take blame for Kop plight

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King Binny

Part of the Furniture
Honorary Member
ROY HODGSON did not fit. Even King Kenny did not fit. When will it occur to Liverpool that maybe the manager is not the problem?

Senior players such as Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Pepe Reina and Glen Johnson need to look at themselves and ask ‘Have I done enough?’

Maybe I’m stuck in the past but, as a player, your pride should be hurt when a manager loses his job because it means you haven’t done yours.

That’s what I felt when Brian Clough left Nottingham Forest after we were relegated in 1993.

Kenny Dalglish was sacked after Liverpool finished eighth, 37 points behind Manchester City and Manchester United.

That’s not good enough for a club of their standing but winning the Carling Cup and reaching the final of the FA Cup should have bought him a bit more time.

I’ve said before that, as it stands, Liverpool are a cup team and, on that score, they’ve done pretty well.

Once Liverpool were known as a classy club. Anyone who dealt with them would say they acted with dignity and honour but they seem to have lost that.

There were two messy takeovers, the poor handling of the Luis Suarez situation, the departure of Damien Comolli and now the ditching of a club legend after only 18 months in charge.

It seems to me the American owners in the Premier League — at United, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Sunderland — have a different mentality from what we are used to. They want instant success.

Splashing £100million might bring immediate results in American football but soccer is different and they need to get their heads around that.

You could throw £100m at that Liverpool team tomorrow, no matter who the manager is, and they still wouldn’t be any closer to winning the league.

In the past, Liverpool used to buy ready-made players like Peter Beardsley and John Barnes. Now they bring in younger ones who might have a higher resale value.

How that is compatible with instant success, I don’t know. These things take time.

Sure, some of their signings had not lived up to expectations but there were signs towards the end of the campaign that they were getting better and Kenny deserved the opportunity to stay in charge.

I wouldn’t blame the newer players either. Yes, they need to do better but what about the more experienced ones around them?

Gerrard is a great player and we’ve all seen him win games on his own. That’s fine but a captain doesn’t just play well himself, he gets the others to play well.

Does Gerrard do that? I’m not so sure. Carragher and Reina have been around long enough to know what’s required and Johnson is the England right-back. What have they done to help?

Have they invited new arrivals over for a meal or gone for a game of snooker with them to make sure they’re all right?

When I got to United, living in a flat on my own, Steve Bruce asked me to go out for dinner and Bryan Robson had a few pints with me after games, not that I needed any encouragement.

I did the same with younger players coming in. It’s a simple thing like going for a coffee with someone that can make the difference. I might be wrong but it doesn’t look to me like that’s happening at Liverpool.

The search is on for a new manager and despite the problems it’s still a big job which will appeal to a lot of people. The club isn’t ready to take off in my opinion but it can improve.

Roberto Martinez has done well enough at Wigan to earn a chance to make the step-up. He could have left last year but showed a bit of loyalty, which is good to see.

It also looks like he dodged a bullet in not going to Aston Villa. You have to be careful about who you get into bed with.

But if he gets it and it doesn’t work out, will we hear the same old excuses about how the job was too big for him blah, blah, blah — or will people realise that maybe it’s the players rather than the manager to blame?
 
Yeah the players take the blame for sure....how someone like Steven Gerrard is culpable for being injured the major part of last two seasons is beyond me. It's not in his control. I doubt he wanted to be injured.

This is not Chelsea...we don't have players pulling rank on the manager. Kenny Dalglish had the respect of the dressing room and fans. He backed the players to the hilt. Sometimes when things don't work out you've gotto getup dust yourself up and do better. The sacking of Dalglish was needless....there is no point in pointing fingers at the manager, players etc. The transfers were a major fuck up, yes, as was the Suarez affair, but those are not things that couldn't be rectified even without spending much money in this transfer window.

I have a feeling Comolli, Dalglish etc got the sacking for the poor handling of the Suarez affair, more than the transfer window. They probably gave the impression to the management they were in control and they comically let things spiral out of control.

The transfer window spend (with the exception of Downing) was all on players with not much premiership/top-flight experience behind them (Suarez, Carroll, Henderson, Adam - all had less than two years top flight experience), so the American's ought to have known that it could be a difficult first season. I find it hard to believe they used that alone as the stick to beat Kenny with

This highlights how big a fuck up buying Downing for 20million was......it was a proper thicko move, whoever was behind that move would be wondering what could have been...
 
Keane speculating on what our players do in their free time

has no evidence either way

assumes the worst

amazing journalism.
 
Well, remember that Keanes's managerial career has been absolute shite because of the players, and players only. Not his fault.
In the past, Liverpool used to buy ready-made players like Peter Beardsley and John Barnes. Now they bring in younger ones who might have a higher resale value.
Yes, that explains the disasters in Downing and Adam.
 
I know that the inevitable reaction from most will be, "fuck that Manc what does he know about our club" and its true that his managerial career was nothing to write home about but he was one of the best captains Ive ever seen, he didnt just play well he dragged every player on the team along with him, those guys werent just terrified of him they were terrified of letting him down.

Gerrard is/was a great player, but Ive never considered him a great captain, hes never seemed capable of getting great performances from others, and whats more hes never seemed interested in it. Whether or not hes been injured his role as captain should involve helping the younger players develop and making the new signings feel at home.
 
Gerrard is/was a great player, but Ive never considered him a great captain, hes never seemed capable of getting great performances from others, and whats more hes never seemed interested in it.

Bar a few games over of his reign (Istanbul most notably), I'd say you're right. Keane dragged people with him, Gerrard led by example and hoped they'd follow.
 
There's a measure of truth in what Keane says. Pepe hasn't looked interested for a long time. The new signings haven't stepped up but the signs are there.

I'm not so sure that there's a unity problem in the team but we have lacked heart in a games.
its something I never thought I'd see from a Liverpool player.

Managers must shoulder the blame because they are the ones selecting the team.
 
I'm afraid klangers from Reina have cost us in a number of games in the last few seasons. On his day, he remains a great player, but he seems to make more errors these days, and so fine are the margins, that those errors have been particularly costly.

Gerrard had a poor season, simple as that. People have been very critical of our midfielders this season, but SG always evades the bulk of the flak. The fact is, he has barely influenced our season. He shouldn't be in CM anymore. Get him on the right, or behind the striker.

I don't think Genjo has really too much to answer for, and Carra is clearly on the wane. He hasn't played much, and when he has, he has often looked nervy, and likely to make a blunder.

Suarez didn't score enough. He has been exciting, but not enough end product. Our spine isn't strong enough in truth.
 
The buck always stops with the manager. It has to.

There is a slight point here, but it really should not distract from the fact that Dalglish's second stint as Manager can rightly be deemed a failure.
 
Carra approves:

"I think they have had a lot of unfair criticism," said Carragher in the Sunday Mirror.

"Henderson, Downing, Adam, Carroll - whoever it may be, it's always been a new signing. Have they been scapegoats? Yes. But I think it's players like myself, players who've been here a long time, who deserve more criticism than the new players. They've just been finding their feet, learning what Liverpool is all about.

"The manager brought Stewart and Andy in. Hopefully there's time for them to develop a good rapport.

"I'm sure they will be there next season and it's something we need to improve on - their relationship on the pitch. Stewart's a great crosser of the ball and we all know Andy's good in the air."

Downing failed to score or provide an assist in the Premier League this season, but has been picked in England's squad for Euro 2012, alongside Carroll, while Henderson is on stand-by.

Carragher continued: "Stewart is in the England squad, so he's getting the brunt of that now from an England perspective.

"I'm sure Stewart wouldn't like that statistic. He has at times put things on a plate for strikers. He can't finish those chances for them.

"He'll be disappointed because he'd like to score more goals. As an attacking player you want to score goals and create goals. I'm sure he'll want to rectify that for us next season.

"Andy has got great confidence at the moment, the way he's finished the season at Liverpool. He'll be going into the summer with confidence. From a selfish point of view he'll start next season really well. He'll be really fit and strong."
 
I know that the inevitable reaction from most will be, "fuck that Manc what does he know about our club" and its true that his managerial career was nothing to write home about but he was one of the best captains Ive ever seen, he didnt just play well he dragged every player on the team along with him, those guys werent just terrified of him they were terrified of letting him down.

Gerrard is/was a great player, but Ive never considered him a great captain, hes never seemed capable of getting great performances from others, and whats more hes never seemed interested in it. Whether or not hes been injured his role as captain should involve helping the younger players develop and making the new signings feel at home.

Yeah - SG is too much like Optimus Prime, tries to do everything himself rather than bring in the rest of the team to play. Fuck that - I love Optimus Prime.
 
Decent article and not much you can argue with.

Said myself that the likes of Reina, Carra and Gerrard weren't faultless for our problems last season.

Reina in particular needs to sort himself out. Either be fully committed or ask for a transfer because we can't afford another season of him fucking up on a regular basis.
 
To be honest there's not a lot to argue with in that article; sure he doesn't/wouldn't know the details but the principles are spot on. Don't think Gerrard's had much chance to do a lot on the pitch the last two seasons but off the pitch something's not working cause the players weren't showing a lot of fight.
 
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