Why Kenny Dalglish was (sort of) right

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish was roundly chastised last week for suggesting that Liverpool's season, by every other measure than Premiership points, had been a success. The Reds sit in eighth position on the Premier League table after a forgettable 2012 that has seen them take only eight points from their twelve fixtures since the turn of the year.

Although a peculiar statement, the fact is that he could be right. The Kop legend just failed to articulate his sentiments correctly – everything depends on your definition of “success”.

Broadly speaking, all sports fans want to see one of two things from their club: present success or promise for the future. There's scant, if any, middle ground. If a club isn't on the threshold of achievement (whether than be team harmony, staying in a division, avoiding liquidation or securing a title) then fans must see management putting structures into place that will realise ambition.

Those structures, as Dalglish rather ineloquently posited, could be on-field – such as new players, value-for-money signings or a team adjusting well to a new style or set of tactics. They could also come from the boardroom, like the now-infamous kit deal.

However, clubs can only trade on hope for so long before it becomes fatuous. The confounder therefore is supporter expectation, a notoriously difficult and formless concept.

Despite an improved squad and a collapsing percentage of achieved points (his ratio has decreased from last term's 61% to 45% this season), Scouse fans should feel their icon's major failing has not been mismanagement of players but of fan expectation. With the arrival of Bellamy, Carroll, Adam, Downing, Henderson, Doni, Enrique and, ultimately and definitively, Luis Suarez, Reds could well have expected a Champions League challenge – at least.

For that to occur the team would have had to have gelled instantly and avoided all controversy and injury. All three were highly unlikely. Though he's been lost/lazy/awful at times, Carroll still has the potential to the league's best big forward, and I defy suggestion that Henderson and Adam won't at least be serviceable. However, all three depend upon being deployed correctly. There remains plenty of promise for the future, if thosee talents boasting “Standard Chartered” on their chests are aptly harnessed.  

Sponsorship and stability should be prized as well - if not perhaps more so than finishing above Everton, or winning the League Cup.  Dalglish, in the immortal words of Obi-Wan Kenobi, could quite rightly say "What I said was true ... from a certain point of view".

Courtesy: dailymail.co.uk

Dalglish began trading on instant achievement when, with Carroll and Henderson struggling, Bellamy crocked and Suarez, well, controversial, the club were better placed to plug the promise of seasons to come for one more year.

How this would have gone over with his superiors is anyone's guess, but with squad expenditure since January last year topping out over ₤85 million, indications are that success had become th expectation. However, and by whoever, the suggestion that the club was placed to succeed now, rather than after a short seasoning period, has placed Dalglish's stiffening neck in a tightening noose.

Swansea City's Scott Sinclair deserves England callup

Anointing a youngster "future England regular" is an exercise both in optimism and presumption. There have been several recent nominees for the position future England star - from Jermaine Defoe, through Jack Wilshere, Andy Carroll and even Adam Johnson. Each has had their sparkly moments in the Three Lions' shirt and as Fabio Capello begins to assemble his squad for Euro 2012, certain names have been categorized already: Rooney - definitely, Lampard - probably, Naughton - perhaps, Bothroyd - unlikely, Scholes - I wish and Nugent - never in a million years.

Here's one more suggestion for that "perhaps" category, a bolter from the field: Scott Sinclair, of Swansea City. In fact, it's not too long a bow to draw to suggest he should have been considered for a call-up to the current England training camp as they prepare to face Switzerland. Take note he probably doesn't deserve a place in the team just yet, but with his Championship form, Chelsea pedigree and blistering pace down the left of midfield he - and England - can only benefit from his exposure to top level competition.

The former Chelsea man isn't the best English left winger in the country. He may not even make the top seven. But what he does offer is an abundance of pace, youth, finishing skills and enthusiasm. In International football, speed is a crucial part of a team's gameplan and something- Theo Walcott's fragile body apart - that the Three Lions lack. He may develop into a gamebreaker (or not) but to include him at this juncture would only aid England's process of ensuring the most appropriate talent makes their representative team.

Understanding that during their past few internationals England have trotted out James Milner, Stewart Downing and Ashley Young as regular left midfielders - Milner the incumbent and deserving Villa pair rewarded for good Premiership form. Other wide players like Matt Jarvis and Johnson round out the England squad - both of good, but not world-class standard. It's hard to believe that Sinclair is that far removed from that second level, especially when viewed on a purely physical basis. Man City's Johnson went from the Championship with Middlesbrough to the national setup within months of his acquisition by the Citizens and appears as if he has an England future. Sinclair could do the same.

The argument for calling up the Swans' star is simple: why not? What has England got to lose? They include an upcoming youngster, give him exposure to training with top-class talent and play him only if they're confident he won't let the side down. If he's not good enough, so be it - he can easily not be included in their matchday team. His Championship background shouldn't scare Capello - the Italian called up Jay Bothroyd earlier this season and Sinclair's record (27 goals in all competitions this year) is comparable to, if not better than, that of the former Cardiff City striker. He's already in the system as well as a regular for Stuart Pearce's U-21 mob.

As any four-year old is frustratingly aware, the simple rebuttal to an argument of "Why not?" is "Why?". England have a bevy of wide players with better and more established pedigrees - ranging from Milner to Jarvis. To represent one's country should be earned and it's questionable that Sinclair has done so. Often, managers look for two years of performances before rewarding players with higher honours. But really, does training with the National squad have the same weight of meaning? Two years ago, Joe Lewis of Peterborough was called into the England training camp while Jordan Henderson's tremendous start to last season got him an England cap, after which his form tailed away. To look back on those two's call-ups is to ask if they truly deserved them also.

Scott Sinclair will find out later this year when Swansea City begin their Premiership campaign if he's quite the player he seems. But Fabio Capello's watching brief shouldn't just include obtaining results but developing the national team for the future as well - and Scott Sinclair's definitely one to watch. It appears he has missed a trick by disregarding the young Swan.

Image courtesy: telegraph.co.uk

Waiting for the phone to ring

With his sterling display against Manchester City on the weekend, several pundits have tipped Wolves' winger Matt Jarvis as a possible inclusion in Fabio Capello's next England squad, which is to play France in a friendly later this month. Other possible call-ups could go to young Gunner Jack Wilshere, Sunderland central midfielder Jordan Henderson and Newcastle's hulking forward Andy Carroll.

Jarvis is a speedy right-sided winger who's proved a success in the Premier League despite humble beginnings as a trainee at Championship side (then relegated to League One) Gillingham. He was an essential part of their side and was sold to Wolves in 2007. He became a first-team regular at the Midlands club and Wolves clinched automatic promotion to the Premiership after his second year at Molineux. Unusually for a promoted club, Wolves' wing positions were thought to be a position of relative strength, but it wasn't Jarvis tipped to wow Premier League audiences, rather his left-wing counterpart "Twice Nightly" Michael Kightly.

Kightly has spent much of Wolverhampton's two premiership campaigns sidelined by injury and the ball has fallen at the feet of the Jarvis. Who's run with it. And run with it. Then crossed it. And kept running. Once tipped by the Gillingham chairman Paul Scally to play for England by age twenty-four, the media is now suggesting that Scally's skills as a prophet were bang-on - Jarvis is precisely that age. Fast - though not lightning quick - and extremely technically proficient, he's no doubt been more effective this term than some of his rivals for an England wide position like Aaron Lennon or Shaun Wright-Phillips.

But can a player from a team so thoroughly immersed in the relegation struggle really force Capello - a man who admittedly prefers the tried and true options - into selecting him for the Three Lions? His ability, dedication, form and game says yes: few wide players have his endeavour or technical correctness. Unfortunately though, he has four things counting against him: his name (or lack thereof) when compared to the virtually invisible Wright-Phillips; he is short a yard of pace when compared to the blistering pace of a Walcott or Lennon and finally, although he's not short on influence, Jarvis probably simply doesn't have the same tricks as Adam Johnson.

The fourth reason is Wolves' current tough situation. They sit mired near the foot of the EPL table, even following some admirable performances unrewarded with wins or even draws. Perhaps Saturday's win against City may change that. Indeed, what may sway Capello in Jarvis's favour is the surety that he would offer an England team. The manager would know 100% what he'd get from the right side when Matt Jarvis played that wing and that predictable endeavour isn't something with which Capello's England has been generously endowed.

If it is time to re-stock the England cupboard with new talents, then Capello could do worse than looking around the Premiership for players that he knows will respond to the call with a performance - it's long been a curse for England that their superstars have failed to perform with the same vigour in white as they do for their clubs. Bringing in new, fresh faces like Jarvis and Tyneside Bad Boy Carroll could prove the difference between a staid, boring squad at Euro 2012 (with a bog-standard English second round exit) and a team which can really throw a cat amongst some Spanish and German pigeons.