KENNY DALGLISH has said he will analyse Liverpool’s season and future direction with the club’s principal owner, John W Henry, and the chairman, Tom Werner, this summer, after his hopes of a cup double were thwarted by Chelsea.
Dalglish was publicly assured by Werner that his position as manager was safe last month.
Liverpool’s league campaign has continued to deteriorate and without the addition of the FA Cup to silence criticism of the return on Fenway Sports Group’s £120 million (€150m) investment in new players, the owners will demand assurances from the manager and his backroom staff when the campaign ends.
“The owners will do the same as us. They will sit and analyse the season at the end of it, when it is finished,” Dalglish said. “We will wait and assess the season, and everything that contributes to the season, after the games are finished. I cannot be any more honest than that. Everybody is going to sit down and assess what has happened. That is what we said before a ball was kicked.”
A rousing end to the cup final, inspired by the introduction of Andy Carroll, almost produced a comeback from Liverpool but Dalglish did not absolve his players from criticism entirely, lamenting their “naivety” and a lack of self-belief during a dreadful first-half display. Carroll was unfortunate not to start and was central to the final’s key moment, when his header was clawed on to the bar by Petr Cech with the score 2-1 and eight minutes remaining.
The striker ran off in celebration but the assistant referee Andrew Garratt correctly ruled the ball had not crossed the line.
Dalglish refused to castigate the officials’ decision, insisting they deserved credit if their call proved to be correct, but repeated his view that goal-line technology must be introduced.
“Somebody said it could have been given and sometimes they are. But if it has not gone over [the line], the officials deserve a lot of credit for that. There is no excuse for goal-line technology not to be there and it would be helpful for referees and linesman. The game does not even need to stop. It can carry on and somebody could shout ‘goal’ or ‘no goal’.”
