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It’s been 30 years since the craziest Merseyside derby of modern times. A 4-4 draw in a replay of the FA Cup fifth round that saw a shattered Kenny Dalglish resign as Liverpool manager.
Dalglish maintained that he could have returned, recharged, two weeks later, but some argue that it took Liverpool years to fully recover.
“None of us had the slightest intention of Kenny resigning,” says Liverpool legend Ian Rush. ‘The game was incredible. So that we could go forward four times and not win, we were upset, but Everton didn’t give up. ”
That day, lying in his hotel bed, Dalglish had decided that the Goodison derby would be his last for the sake of his sanity. More than 20 years at the top, along with the Hillsborough trauma, had taken their toll. He was questioning his own decisions.
‘Kenny was fantastic at protecting the players. He would eliminate all your problems, ”Rush reflects on his friend and former strike partner. That’s why he was a great manager-man. He said “leave your worries to me, just go out and play.” The problem is, he faced so much player issues at the time that it became too emotional for him to do his job. He kept it all to himself.
Rush, Everton’s often nemesis, had sparked the drama that night, breaking down the left before his stopped shot landed on Peter Beardsley to convert the first goal in the 37th minute. Graeme Sharp tied after halftime only for Beardsley to add a brilliant second over Neville Southall. Sharp leveled again before Rush added his usual goal with a rare header to make it 3-2.
“He was good friends with Kevin Ratcliffe, we used to share a room with Wales and joke around during games. But he used to kick me really hard from the start and I said “Why did you do that?” He said it was because the referee didn’t dare book him at the start of a game. It happened that often at the end I would run up to the referee and say ‘Hey, do you know it’s still okay to hire someone in the first five minutes as well as the last five minutes? ”
“ I was always confident in derbies and knowing Neville Southall the way I did, it was sweeter to score against him. Neville was the best goalkeeper in the world, although he never got the global recognition he deserved. That night I read where Jan Molby was putting his cross and it went into my head.
Rush’s strike seemed conclusive only for Everton’s replacement Tony Cottee to force overtime. John Barnes made a majestic shot beyond Southall’s reach to put Liverpool in front once again, only for Cottee to send Goodison into ecstasy with a fourth draw, earning another replay.
“We scored great goals but we made dumb mistakes,” Rush said. “Against any other team we probably would have won, but you have to admit Everton kept coming back. Kenny wasn’t happy after the game, neither of us were, but there was no sign of what was coming. ‘
Dalglish would later cite that a sign of his fatigued state was when he knew he should have propped up Liverpool’s defense after Barnes’ goal, but did not act.
“Friday morning after that derby, we were in the locker room and Kenny came in with tears in his eyes and said he was leaving,” says Rush. It was all very emotional. He was only there for a couple of minutes, thanked everyone and then left. I was close to him, I had no idea, we were all in shock.
“We lost to Luton that Saturday and we started to feel sorry for ourselves. I blamed the plastic field and the fact that we had changed our preparation. We wanted Kenny back, he was the one we turned to when we were down, “what do we do now?” Ronnie Moran just hit us all and said “go ahead”.
However, it was Everton who won the replay.
Does Rush now draw parallels to that era with the pressure Jurgen Klopp finds himself under after his recent problem?
“It’s silly to question Klopp,” says Rush. ‘The standard you’ve set is the reason you get so much scrutiny when they lose. The way they won the league probably won’t be repeated. But it’s ridiculous, the criticism is worse now than it was in Kenny’s day. One or two losses and it’s a crisis. They are not playing that bad.
As Kenny, and Bob Paisley before him always said, the hardest thing is to retain the title and this is the toughest league in the world.
“Liverpool had a lot of good coaches in the middle. He was very happy with Graeme Souness, who brought training methods from Italy ahead of his time, but the dressing room struggled when it changed too much too fast.
“Gerard Houllier and Rafa Benítez perhaps put more emphasis on European competition, but they all took a step in the right direction. Klopp has raised the bar and success draws criticism, but he can handle that. ‘
888 Sport’s investigation shows that despite their recent poor form at home, Liverpool haven’t lost a Saturday game at Anfield since January 2017, against Swansea. Also, Everton still haven’t won at Anfield since 1999.
“Liverpool have lacked crowds more than anyone,” says Rush, who scored a record 20 goals in the derby. Pep Guardiola admitted it after City beat Liverpool the other week. Anfield was always a 12th player and that could make a big difference on Saturday.
“On the Tuesday before the derbies, you would have 100 fans outside Melwood training ground saying ‘Come on guys’, and by Friday you would have 1,000 who said ‘make sure you beat them.’ He was made aware of what it meant. Without the fans, the games are not so fierce, but the best mentally prepared team will win ”.
Rush likes Liverpool to have that lead and triumph 3-1, but is wary of the threat posed by Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
He has done very, very well. He’s had a hamstring injury so I’d like him to miss this match too … but he’ll think he can score against Liverpool.
“Whenever I played in derbies I knew I would score against Everton. Against United I think I’ll get one, against Everton I knew it.
Even when I went to Newcastle, I signed them up. The psychology you have as a striker is incredible and I think Calvert-Lewin has that same mentality. But I hope Liverpool have a little more. ‘
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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