The new Liverpool boss is back in charge of his beloved club after a gap of almost two decades. And that is how much Dalglish must have aged in the space of just 90 tortuous minutes as arch-rivals Manchester United sneaked into the fourth round thanks to Ryan Giggs’s controversial early penalty.
Dalglish’s misery was made even worse as Steven Gerrard saw red before half time and will now miss the next three matches, including next weekend’s crunch Merseyside derby at Anfield. Welcome back then, ‘King Kenny’! In the meantime it was just business as usual for Sir Alex Ferguson, whose side continue to churn out wins with worrying monotony for their closest rivals.
Sadly for Dalglish, the Reds are no longer classed as one of these and his main aim now it just to keep the fallen giants in the top flight following this 10th defeat of the season. Dalglish cut short his family cruise in the Persian Gulf to answer the Reds’ SOS. He jetted into Manchester Airport on Saturday night, which meant he had less than 24 hours to prepare for the bitter clash with Fergie’s men.
Dalglish has until the end of the season to convince the club’s American owners, including chairman Tom Werner, he is the man to lead the Reds back to their former glories. His sudden appointment had even caught Fergie on the hop, with the Scot still singing the praises of Hodgson in his programme notes.
A win over arch-rivals United had been the ideal chance for Dalglish to make the perfect start. But the pressure was on him from the off considering he knew a defeat would leave the Reds with just the Europa League to play for between now and the end of what has so far been a miserable campaign.
Just to pile even more pressure on Dalglish his side arrived at Old Trafford facing a United outfi t riding high at the top of the league and unbeaten all season. Joe Cole was injured while Glen Johnson pulled out before kick off after his wife went into labour, which meant a Cup debut for Martin Kelly.
Dalglish made five changes in all, three of which came in defence in the wake of last week’s humiliating defeat at Blackburn. Fergie also had his problems, with captain Nemanja Vidic missing through injury along with Wayne Rooney, who failed a fitness test on his troublesome ankle.
Jonny Evans was recalled for Vidic while Hernandez continued to deputise for Rooney. Dalglish should have known it wasn’t going to be his day when his players were drenched by the sprinklers on the pitch as they headed to the dressing room before kick off. And having given up his boat trip Dalglish then watched in horror as the visitors took just 32 seconds to head into choppy waters.
That’s how long it was before United won a dubious spot kick after referee Howard Webb penalised Daniel Agger for tripping Dimitar Berbatov. Replays showed Agger barely touched the Bulgarian but that didn’t bother Giggs, who beat Pepe Reina to fi re United ahead with his first goal since August.
Gerrard led the protests but things were to get much worse for the Reds – and their skipper in particular – before half time. His game was over on 32 minutes following his two-footed lunge at England team-mate Michael Carrick.
Webb made his second big call of the game and sent off Gerrard as Dalglish looked on stunned from the sidelines. Despite all their problems the Reds looked the more threatening for large spells. Fernando Torres shot wide and Maxi Rodriguez saw his effort parried by Tomasz Kuszczak, while both Gerrard and Dirk Kuyt also tried their luck without success. Evans headed against the post on the stroke of half time and Hernandez fl ashed a header just wide on 48 minutes, but Fergie’s men were far from in charge.
Kuszczak kept out Aurelio’s curling free kick but it took a fine triple save from Reina at the opposite end to keep the Reds in with a shout. Berbatov shot just wide along with substitute Michael Owen as the former Red missed the chance to add the final insult to an afternoon to forget for Dalglish on his return to the big time.
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