Great Expectations - Liverpools quest back to the top

I must govern the clock, not be governed by it - Golda Meir

20 years have passed since Liverpool have won a League title. They are being governed by the clock, the clock is still ticking. The monkey on Liverpool's back is getting older. If they are not careful they will soon have a gorilla climbing all over them like King Kong engulfed the Empire State building.

Nearly a year has now passed since Kenny Dalglish began his second stint as Liverpool manager. When he took over he found a team that was lacking in confidence and in the wrong half of the Premiership table. Operations went stale under Rafa Benitez and Roy Hodgson was unable to reverse the slide.

The fans, hence, got their wish.  The return of the Messiah. Aided with the arrival of the mesmerising Luis Suarez, Dalglish comfortably guided Liverpool into the top half of the table and nearly even sneaked past Tottenham for 5th spot. With wins against Chelsea away from home and two hammerings of the Manchester duo prospects for this season were high.

This season has not gone so smoothly however. They have followed up excellent performances with inept efforts. Drawing at home to Sunderland and then going to the Emirates and efficiently defeating Arsenal 2-0. They have dispatched of Everton and Bolton with ease but have also being pummelled by Tottenham and were unable to clinically put away Stoke or Norwich.

That simply is not the kind of form required to reach the Champions League spots. For all the money that Liverpool have spent this year allied with the clubs tradition they really should be getting that lucrative 4th place.

 Nearly £50million was spent on the likes of Charlie Adam, Stuart Downing and Jordan Henderson. Though it's still early days, it's hard to justify that amount for those 3 players. Whilst Henderson has time on his side, Downing has hardly set the world alight. Indeed Liverpool havn't had a good quality winger since Steve McManaman. To be fair Adam is good value for his educated left boot, he too still has to prove himself on the biggest stage.

Then of course there is the Andy Carroll conundrum. Whilst he has probably being unfairly criticized due to his hefty price tag I'm not sure Carroll will ever be worth anything close to the £35million Liverpool gambled on him. Despite his goal against West Brom he still doesn't convince me and his touch so far has simply not being that of a top class Premiership footballer.

Liverpool could also do with Daniel Agger staying injury free for a lengthy period of time and Sebastian Coates living up to his reputation that was garnered at the Copa America. Undoubtedly the evergreen Jamie Carragher has been a massive influence for Liverpool over the years portrayed by his detemination, tenacity and will to win but he his 33 now and has struggled against the very very best strikers in the world. Added to that, despite Martin Skrtels aerial prowess he is also prone to the odd error. Having said all that José Enrique so far has proved to be a very astute signing.

Matters have also being made very interesting in the race for the final Champions League spot. Both Arsenal and Tottenham seem to have recovered from their respective shaky starts, with Robin Van Persie in sensational form at the moment. Alongside that Newcastle have been equally impressive and have backed up their recent form with an excellent win at the fortress that is Stoke's Britannia stadium. Indeed the race for 4th is set to go right down to the wire.

Admittedly I was initially sceptical of Daglishes appointment, but his record last season never mind the last 25 years deserves time and patience. Whilst anything below 4th place would be disappointing, a few more reinforcements to aid the ageing but excellent Steven Gerrard and the aforementioned Suarez could help Liverpool eventually go in the right direction of getting Kong off their backs.