Hansen Wrong On Dalglish

As speculation mounts over who will take over the reigns at Liverpool, former Reds defender and BBC Sport pundit, Alan Hansen, has come to Kenny Dalglish' defense over the latter's sacking.

Hansen's defense of the former Liverpool manager should not come as a surprise as the former played alongside and latter under fellow Scotsman, Dalglish. But much of his piece, which can be read here is sheer hypocrisy.

Before I go on, I will admit that it is sad to see Dalglish' second stint at Liverpool end in such a way but as I've argued before, his time at Anfield had run out. Legend or not, the Reds endured one of their worst seasons ever in the Premier League and Dalglish had to shoulder much of the blame.

Now, on to Hansen's column.

My first beef was with the following:

"Dalglish himself would have been disappointed with the final Premier League position, but he did win the Carling Cup and if you are winning trophies this should ultimately give the manager some leeway. When you are rebuilding you have to start somewhere and winning silverware is not a bad place, no matter how highly or otherwise people regard the Carling Cup." 

First, the only clubs that don't think highly of the Carling Cup are the ones that don't win it. And while winning the Carling Cup would be sufficient enough for a mid-table club, Liverpool aren't one or, rather, aren't supposed to be one.

Instead, despite the Carling Cup success, the Reds endured one of their worst seasons in the Premier League by only winning six home games all season and scored a total of 47 goals all season, nearly half of what champions Man City scored.

But even that would have been palatable had Liverpool won the Carling Cup in a convincing fashion. Instead, the slogged and won it over penalties against Championship side (I reiterate: Championship side), Cardiff City.

"Liverpool's owners, the Fenway Sports Group, have set the bar high here because it was always going to be incredibly difficult for Kenny to come back, rebuild the team and restore them to the Champions League in one full season."

Set the bar high? Three seasons ago, Liverpool were in the Champions League and finish second in the league. Many of those players in that season were still in Dalglish' squad. Furthermore, let's put some things into perspective. Liverpool FC is expected to compete for the Premier League title, not just a Champions League qualification spot.

Moreover, Fenway Sports Group (FSG) gave Dalglish GBP100 million to invest in new players for the club. Even when you consider the sort of money Man City and Chelsea splash in the transfer market, GBP100 million is quite a substantial amount.

As such, it's not surprising that FSG felt a little bit of disappointment when their team finished eighth in the league and below Everton. And did I mention that the club they paid GBP35 million for Andy Carroll finished fifth? The irony would've been too much for FSG.