Liverpool have never walked alone thanks to a series of successful collaborations. St John and Hunt; Keegan and Toshack; Rush and Dalglish; and Rodgers and Hammerstein, among the most notable.
Even their less glorious recent history has not been without flourishing partnerships. Fernando Torres was at his most prolific when working in tandem with Steven Gerrard.
The toils of Torres in a Chelsea shirt are less difficult to comprehend since he no longer benefits from such a talismanic figure dutifully seeking to create so many goalscoring opportunities.
It is both a source of frustration and encouragement that Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has been unable to forge a similarly effective attacking pairing over the last 12 months.
Whether it is Luis Suárez alongside Andy Carroll, or the more tantalising combination of Suárez and Gerrard, circumstances have prevented the kind of experimentation that could provide explosive results.
Monday night's visit of Tottenham Hotspur is the first time in 10 months Dalglish can argue he has a full-strength squad to choose from, aided by the end Suárez’s ban. Gerrard has been injured for most of Suárez’s time on Merseyside, his return to fitness coinciding with the South American’s eight-match suspension.
Dalglish delighted as Carroll ends goal drought 01 Feb 2012.
“At the moment, it looks as if we’re going to have almost a full squad to pick from for the first time,” said Dalglish. “We will have to wait and see if Steven and Luis are available together, but certainly the two of them are fantastic footballers, who have a great understanding. We’d better put them together in training to see if we can play them all together!
“I don’t want anybody to play individually. Within the team there has always got to be understanding and partnerships, and as long as the individual bit comes second, we’ll be OK. I look forward to the two of them having a run in the team together.
“I didn’t know Stevie, Luis and Andy have played so infrequently together, but they have been injured at different times. It is positive for us that we have that to look forward to, if you take injuries out of the equation.
"Certainly they are looking better. Andy is looking strong now at the end of games, he was running strong at the end of the Wolves game. We can play several ways, we’ve got different personnel to change the way we play, and that is what we are looking for.”
Naturally, the focus will fall upon Suárez at Anfield. Whether the rest of the country finds it tasteful or not, he will receive a hero’s welcome back. Dalglish is seeing the comeback in terms of a fresh start rather than
lingering on the issues which kept the Uruguayan on the sidelines.
“It does give you a lift when you get your players back, and to get Luis back is fantastic for everybody around here. I think he has learned something over the time he was out.
"I think you learn something every time you go to your bed, whether it’s good, bad or indifferent is open to conjecture.
“We are just glad to get him back, we are not going to go over old ground. He’ll want to play. But there is a lot to be taken into consideration as well.
"The way the other boys have played without him and the fact he’s not played for a month will also be taken into consideration.”
The toils of Torres in a Chelsea shirt are less difficult to comprehend since he no longer benefits from such a talismanic figure dutifully seeking to create so many goalscoring opportunities.
It is both a source of frustration and encouragement that Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has been unable to forge a similarly effective attacking pairing over the last 12 months.
Whether it is Luis Suárez alongside Andy Carroll, or the more tantalising combination of Suárez and Gerrard, circumstances have prevented the kind of experimentation that could provide explosive results.
Monday night's visit of Tottenham Hotspur is the first time in 10 months Dalglish can argue he has a full-strength squad to choose from, aided by the end Suárez’s ban. Gerrard has been injured for most of Suárez’s time on Merseyside, his return to fitness coinciding with the South American’s eight-match suspension.
Dalglish delighted as Carroll ends goal drought 01 Feb 2012.
“At the moment, it looks as if we’re going to have almost a full squad to pick from for the first time,” said Dalglish. “We will have to wait and see if Steven and Luis are available together, but certainly the two of them are fantastic footballers, who have a great understanding. We’d better put them together in training to see if we can play them all together!
“I don’t want anybody to play individually. Within the team there has always got to be understanding and partnerships, and as long as the individual bit comes second, we’ll be OK. I look forward to the two of them having a run in the team together.
“I didn’t know Stevie, Luis and Andy have played so infrequently together, but they have been injured at different times. It is positive for us that we have that to look forward to, if you take injuries out of the equation."Certainly they are looking better. Andy is looking strong now at the end of games, he was running strong at the end of the Wolves game. We can play several ways, we’ve got different personnel to change the way we play, and that is what we are looking for.”
Naturally, the focus will fall upon Suárez at Anfield. Whether the rest of the country finds it tasteful or not, he will receive a hero’s welcome back. Dalglish is seeing the comeback in terms of a fresh start rather than
lingering on the issues which kept the Uruguayan on the sidelines.
“It does give you a lift when you get your players back, and to get Luis back is fantastic for everybody around here. I think he has learned something over the time he was out.
"I think you learn something every time you go to your bed, whether it’s good, bad or indifferent is open to conjecture.
“We are just glad to get him back, we are not going to go over old ground. He’ll want to play. But there is a lot to be taken into consideration as well.
"The way the other boys have played without him and the fact he’s not played for a month will also be taken into consideration.”
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