As one poster on RAWK put it, ‘Thank fuck for Kenny Dalglish. Imagine if we had him all season.’
Profound and straight to the point whilst allowing gentle pause for thought – I liked it. We blogged a couple of months ago about the need for Liverpool FC to be in Europe, rebuking those who deemed the Europa League ‘beneath us’, remembering the wise words of Shanks: “Liverpool Football club exists not to make money, it exists to win trophies and be a source of pride for its supporters. It serves no other purpose.”
When LFC gets back to competing at the top of the English game, we’ll have to play midweek in the Champions League; we might as well get players used to playing twice a week, especially some of the younger lads who may not have experienced it before. Therein lies further incentive to strengthen our squad depth for a European campaign, something that we need to do in order to challenge domestically too. As long as our squad is strong enough, the extra matches should not be too much for the players to cope with. As Pepe said, some of the younger players who have excelled recently may not have been ready if they hadn’t played in the Europa League.
Now, after our early season turmoil, it feels quite surreal that European football next season is in our hands. There’s still some serious work to be done, but isn’t it great to be playing for something tangible, aiming for ‘something’, rather than just petering out into the summer? With a bit of cash to spend, some deadwood removed, the King will have a wonderful opportunity to build on the best start of any Liverpool manager since, well, the King.
Despite the recent goal spurts from Maxi and Dirk, the general consensus seems to be out and out wingers need to head our shopping list – by no means rendering a farewell to those two; good squad players they are and can continue to be. Youth will supplement the squad too, with more exciting talent stepping into the first team setup, whilst the likes of Gerrard and possibly Aquilani coming back in suddenly makes us look pretty strong indeed. It truly is amazing how our perspective of LFC, and even just everyday life, seems brighter with the King at the helm.
