Jan Molby: Kenny Dalglish will put Liverpool back on the map by steering club into Champions League

Jan Molby, Liverpool Legends v All Star XI (Getty Images)

Related Links

Teams

Players

EXCLUSIVE
By Jonathan Birchall

Former Liverpool star Jan Molby has tipped the club to break into the top four next season, and believes they could soon win the Premier League title under his former team-mate and manager Kenny Dalglish.

The Dane, who made 218 appearances for the club between 1984 and 1996, helping them win two league titles and two FA Cup, has seen his former side transformed by Dalglish since he was appointed caretaker manager in January, replacing the much-maligned Roy Hodgson.

Since the Scot’s appointment, the Reds have gone from being just four points from the relegation zone to the brink of Europa League qualification, and Molby believes that breaking back into the top four must be the goal for next season.

“I would be absolutely delighted for Liverpool to finish in the top four,” the Anfield legend told Goal.com. “I know some people are getting a little bit carried away but I think getting in that four, qualifying for the Champions League and I think you’re back on the map.

“If you have a good season and you’re in the top four then I think it has been proven this year that at some stage you’ll be near the top and near to putting in a real challenge, but then from what you can do from there on in is a guess.

“Getting in the Champions League is so big now. It opens so many doors and it affects the kind of players you can attract as well so that has to be the target.”

Great Dane | Molby starred in the Liverpool midfield under Dalglish in the 1980s

Liverpool lost their status as the country’s joint most successful league side at the weekend to deadly rivals Manchester United, who have dominated in the past two decades to reach 19 titles, one above the Anfield outfit.

“Initially a lot of people will have been disappointed but it’s the way it goes,” admitted Molby. “I don’t think that it’s something that people will worry about too much though, you could see all the fans here on Sunday in the side’s 2-0 defeat to Tottenham and United only won it on the Saturday so we’ll get over it and get on with it.

“The only ones that can put it right now is our team and if they get on with it, hopefully we will get to No.20 first.”

Having initially struggled at the club under Joe Fagan, Molby was given a chance to shine under the newly appointed player-manager Dalglish in 1985 and he took it immediately, picking up 21 goals from the centre of midfield come the end of the season.

It is a story similar to that of Maxi Rodriguez and Jay Spearing, who have gone on to become some of the club’s finest performers since the king of the Kop’s appointment at the start of the year.

Molby recognised the parallels between his own career and those now blossoming in the Liverpool midfield. 

He said: “It’s all about timing and a manager fancying you, that’s what has happened with Spearing and Maxi and a few others.

“If Kenny puts his faith in you it allows you to play and I always think that’s a massive thing. Sometimes I think footballers get too caught up in the information that they get before games. The most important thing is that the manager likes you and trusts you. I think that’s what he has done.”

He added: “Kenny’s a great manager and he was a great player. He’s always had the feeling for what is needed, he had that as a player, that awareness and it’s just the same as a manager. He knows what it takes to get a team that will work – you can’t have 11 superstars, that doesn’t make a team. He’s just got great knowledge.”

Jan Molby was speaking at the 188BET Play on the Pitch day where Liverpool fans were given the unique opportunity of gracing the hallowed turf of Anfield and score a goal in front of the Kop.