Liverpool: Is Kenny Dalglish the Coach the Reds Needed All Along?

I think its safe to say that from the day Roy Hodgson signed as the new Liverpool manager, not many people were to confident in his abilities, although most were probably happy to see Rafa Benitez go. 

After having a disappointing season last year as they finished seventh in the EPL and failed to qualify for the Champions Leeague, it was back to the drawing board for the Reds. The more worrying factor for Reds fans was that then owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett didn't seem too interested in the team.

With Liverpool already facing mass amounts of debt, there weren't many options for them in the transfer market. Hodgson brought in Joe Cole & Milan Jovanovic on free transfers. He also went out and spent £11.5 million on Raul Meireles and £4.5 million on Christian Poulsen.

As the season began and everything started to play out, it appeared nothing was going the way Hodgson and the Liverpool owners had envisioned. Before being sacked, Hodgson was under great amounts of pressure from the Liverpool fans, but that didn't seem to bother Hicks and Gillett.

Finally, John Henry and NESV take over Liverpool FC for $476 Million. Liverpool fans had just watched their club hit close to rock bottom with American owners Hicks and Gillett, so what could they possibly expect from new American owner, John Henry. 

Well looking into Henry's past, he has done very well in sports ownership and appears to be a brilliant business man. During all the changes, Hodgson ends up getting sacked, leaving Liverpool with seven wins, four draws and eight losses. They were already out of the Carling Cup after losing to Northampton Town on penalties.

With Hodgson gone, next up to take on the job: Who better then Liverpool great, Kenny Dalglish?

When taking over the team it was more then clear that the morale in the Liverpool locker room was extremely low, possibly lower then it has been in a very, very long time. Kenny not only faced that, but he also was facing a debut against Manchester United away for the FA Cup.

Liverpool continued there downward spiral at Old Trafford and were knocked out of another domestic cup. Although they lost, some could argue a bit of controversy with Man Utd's goal. Next up on Kenny's fixture list was Blackpool away.

Once again, Liverpool were unable to get a victory and walked away from Bloomfield Road with a 2-1 loss.

It appeared at this point that there was no hope for Liverpool this season, but wait...although Liverpool had two losses under Dalglish, we could see that the team had the fighting spirit fans were used to seeing. Players were going in for tackles, they were arguing calls, they were leaving it all on the field for a man who many on the squad may have looked up to growing up.

Dalglish finally got his first victory away to Wolves with a 0-3 result.This victory came after a hard fought draw at Anfield against Merseyside rivals Everton. It appeared now that Kenny had his squad playing the way he wanted them to. He then managed to get clean sheets against Fulham and Stoke City, winning both matches 1-0 and 2-0. He now had the Reds on a three-game winning streak and three straight clean sheets.

As if Liverpool fans hadn't had enough drama this season already, along came the last day in the January transfer market. John Henry sells Fernando Torres to rivals Chelsea for £50 Million and brings in English striker Andy Carroll for £35 Million and Luis Suarez from Ajax for £22.8 Million.

The burning of Torres jerseys at Anfield began right away, but the main concern was how would the team react? What added more fuel to the fire was the Liverpool now had to travel to Stamford Bridge just a few days later.

Not only did Liverpool's team come out to play on Sunday, but it was clear that no matter what happened, they did not want Torres to have any influence in the game. Dalglish continued the use of his three flat center backs with the two outside backs a little further up and it worked wonders. Chelsea had no width and they never looked comfortable on the ball.

Kenny knows what it's like to be a part of Liverpool history, and it seems he is trying to implement that into his squad. They finally look motivated on the pitch, and they attack as a team and defend as a team. Some may say his formation is too defensive, but from what it appears, he is getting 110 percent out of every player who steps on that field. The players seem to get a long with him, and it looks as if they enjoy his coaching style.

It appears that Liverpool is back to make a challenge for the Champions League spots, but is it too late? I'd say Liverpool fans will be happy with a Europa Cup spot as long as their team is able to bounce back from a disastrous beginning of the season. It will also be interesting to see the influence Suarez and Carroll will have.