When Kenny Dalglish returned to the Anfield hotseat little more than a year ago, he was hailed as the potential saviour of Liverpool football club.

There is one final opportunity for Dalglish to rescue his reputation and Liverpool’s season: the FA Cup

This was a returning hero who had been there and done it all before, a man who could banish the memories of an ultimately stagnant Rafa Benitez and an ill-fitting Roy Hodgson.

King Kenny would drag the club out of its mire of mediocrity and return it to the top table, to feast on diet of titles, cups and European conquests. Glory beckoned.

And, for a while, it looked like it could well happen. Towards the end of last season the green shoots of recovery were starting to show through. Confidence was returning and the football was getting better.

Then came the close season and a host of new signings were made as Dalglish went on a spending spree, snapping up players that would add depth not just to the overall squad but to the first team itself.

The future looked bright. The fans were happy and an air of cautious optimism had returned to Anfield ahead of the new season.

Yet here we are, eight months into that season and things are looking considerably less peachy.

Yes, there has been a Carling Cup triumph along the way, but that is about the only glimmer of light in a season of much gloom.

The new signings have been, for the most part, abject failures. And the blame for that has to lie with the manager, either for buying the wrong people in the first place or failing to get the best out of them.

The club’s league form, and it is the league that matters most, after all, has ranged from average to shocking. Their current run of six defeats in the past seven games is the sort of form that would scare Wolverhapton Wanderers.

Just as worryingly, Liverpool have only managed five victories at home all season, which looks particularly shoddy when you compare it with Manchester City’s 15 home wins.

There was a time when Anfield was a fortress, but not at the moment. Even lowly teams can turn up on Liverpool’s doorstep and be reasonably confident of coming away with a point.

And that is anything but progress.

Last week the media were filled with stories of how Dalglish won’t quit despite their current woes. And I don’t think he will. But I think the question is not so much whether he will jump as be pushed.

When the new owners bought the club, appointed Dalglish and gave him money to spend, I am fairly sure they were looking for a bigger return on their investment than a Carling Cup. If not a title, then at the very least a Champions League place.

Any chance of the latter has clearly evaporated – they are 16 points behind Tottenham Hotpur with just seven games to go. In fact, Liverpool are closer to the relegation places – 14 points – than the Champions League ones.

And to top it all, they are also struggling to finish higher in the league than their local rivals, despite the fact that Everton have only spent about six pounds and a bag of chips on players.

However, there is one final opportunity for Dalglish to rescue his reputation and Liverpool’s season: the FA Cup.

The Carling Cup may be little more than a sideshow when it comes to domestic triumphs. Its big brother, however, still retains enough prestige and glamour to turn a disappointing season into one of promise.

The minor problem for Dalglish is that they are going to have to overcome Everton to get to the final.

I’m fairly sure, with the possible exception of the two Manchester clubs, that Dalglish would rather be playing any other team in next Saturday’s semi-final. Local rivalry just adds an extra dimension to a cup tie that he could do without.

If I were a betting man, I certainly wouldn’t put any serious money on Dalglish getting the chop. Definitely not while the club remains in the FA Cup.

But, then again, I just as certainly wouldn’t put any money on him still being in charge at Anfield when the new season rolls around in August.

Semi insanity

Congratulations to the Football Association for making a real hash of the FA Cup semi-finals. The Everton vs Liverpool clash will take place at lunchtime on Saturday, which is fine and perfectly understandable considering the extra security that is needed for a derby.

However, why on earth are Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur being made to play on the Sunday evening, just a few days before the former face Barcelona in a Champions League semi-final?

Do the FA actually want any English teams to succeed in Europe?

It’s bad enough that Chelsea are probably going to get slaughtered by Barcelona anyway, but at least give them the chance to rest up and chill out before their execution.

Roberto Di Matteo now has to decide whether it is better to field his best team on Sunday in a game they have a reasonable chance of winning, or a couple of days later in a game where their chances are considerably more remote.

Given breathing space, he could have fielded his strongest side in both games. But that would have taken a little bit of joined-up thinking from the FA.

And they do not do very much of that.

Cursing his luck

Owen Coyle will certainly have been over the moon with his team’s performances during March.

The under-pressure Bolton Wanderers manager saw his side win three consecutive Premier League matches to drag themselves out of the relegation zone and give them a fighting chance of survival.

He and his players managed that impressive little run despite the Fabrice Muamba tragedy that struck mid-way through the month, which will have undoubtedly affected his squad.

However, if Coyle thought things were starting to look up for him, he may just have to think again: He’s just been awarded the Manager of the Month award for March.

So what’s so bad about that, I hear you cry?

Surely that’s just a nice way of recognising his achievements, isn’t it?

Well, at face value, yes. Of course it is.

But unfortunately this particular award tends to have a bit of a curse attached to it.

History is littered with managers for whom winning the award has marked a depressing downturn in fortune.

One day they are posing for photographs with their little trophy, the next they are watching their team lose 5-0 at home to the bottom club.

There have even been a few occasions when a manager has scooped the award, only to be given the sack a few weeks later.

Coyle, of course, will be hoping to dodge that particular bullet and build on the progress his team seem to be making. And to be fair, whenever I have seen them play this season they haven’t really looked like relegation material.

One thing is pretty certain though. If he scoops the award again in April, Bolton will be safe. Now that would be a good way of overcoming the curse…

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade