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• Dutchman feels club are close to repeating 2009 title tilt
• ‘A few good signings and we will be right up there’

If a 5-0 win over Birmingham City stirred memories of Kenny Dalglish’s Double-winning debut season as manager at Anfield, thoughts among the players turned to more recent halcyon days. The 2009 vintage was the finest Liverpool team of Dirk Kuyt’s five years on Merseyside and they finished the campaign with an avalanche of goals.

“When we were really close in 2009 and finished second I had the same feeling – a matter of a few good signings and we will be right up there,” Kuyt said.

Liverpool know to their cost that optimism can be the prelude to disappointment. Two years ago they unravelled at startling speed after their flirtation with the title, so while a severely depleted team have earned the club’s biggest win for 19 months, past experience teaches Kuyt that further investment is required in the summer.

“We have learnt from what happened in 2009 when we lost Xabi [Alonso],” he added, before voicing his belief that history is unlikely to repeat itself now. “Maybe we are better placed now. With the arrival of Luis [Suárez] and Andy [Carroll] we have two top-quality players, and if we can add a few other good players then we can compete with the best next season. It is exciting to see. The future looks a lot brighter than it was seven or eight months ago.”

Three months have made a marked difference. Liverpool’s last dozen games have produced 26 points, a return that, were it extended over the course of a whole season, would put them in contention for the title. “What happened up until January happened,” said a matter-of-fact Dalglish, ever careful not to criticise his sacked predecessor Roy Hodgson. “We just accept it.”

Liverpool have been rejuvenated by recruitment, both on the touchline and in attack. Even without scoring, Suárez has a capacity to capture the imagination, as Birmingham’s defeated manager could testify to. “There is no doubt Suárez is a sensational signing,” Alex McLeish said. “I have always admired him. He is going to be a huge star for Liverpool.”

As Suárez illuminated Anfield with elusive movement and bursts of devastating acceleration, Kuyt maintained his own prolific form. A ninth goal of Dalglish’s reign – coming amid a hat-trick from Maxi Rodríguez – makes him comfortably the Scot’s top scorer, dwarfing the combined output of Suárez and Carroll (four). The sense, however, is that the unassuming Dutchman is happier among the supporting cast. “It is easier to play with top-quality players,” he said.

Instead, the spotlight is shared between Liverpool No7s past and present. As a strangely supine Birmingham team conceded goal after goal, the deification of Dalglish continued from the stands. The supporters’ choruses were, if anything, louder and more frequent than in previous games. “It is humbling when they chant my name, but it would be better for me if they chanted the players’ names,” added the 60-year-old. It is a wish that is unlikely to be observed.

“Kenny’s back with a bang,” said McLeish, a former Scotland team-mate. “He has got an aura about him.” His side had held Liverpool in a forgettable stalemate in September, but were swept aside in the rematch in another endorsement of Dalglish’s credentials for permanent employment. “I cannot see him not getting the job,” McLeish added. “I just can’t imagine that.”

Dalglish took the fifth amendment on the subject of his future; the concern for Tottenham Hotspur, however, must be that his revived team will pinch fifth place.

Premier LeagueLiverpoolBirmingham CityRichard Jollyguardian.co.uk

• Scot insists youngsters cannot do it on their own
• Gary Cahill and Charlie Adam among transfer targets

Kenny Dalglish believes Liverpool require further investment in players this summer despite spending £57.8m on new talent in January and overseeing the emergence of several talented youngsters from the club’s academy.

The development of Martin Kelly, Jay Spearing, John Flanagan and Jack Robinson this season, and the prospect of more graduates to come, such as the 16-year-old Raheem Sterling, have brought encouragement to a club transformed since Dalglish replaced Roy Hodgson as manager in January. Fenway Sports Group, Liverpool’s owners, and the director of football, Damien Comolli, have outlined a rebuilding strategy based on both homegrown products and top-class acquisitions, and Dalglish has insisted there can be no deviation from that policy if the team are to regain their place among the leading pack in the Premier League next season.

“It’s important that there is room for development for players, but it’s also important that you don’t use it as an excuse not to spend money and not improve what you’ve already got,” the Liverpool manager said. “Age does not determine their ability to play. So if we’re convinced we have young players who are better than what’s available, then we’ll keep our younger players. There’s no two ways about it. But that does not say we don’t want to improve as a football club in any way, shape or form. We do need to leave some path open if we do think there are players who can come in. If they develop then fine, if they don’t, we’ve got a problem. But if you buy a player in and he doesn’t produce, you’ve got a bigger problem.”

FSG’s £57.8m outlay on Andy Carroll and Luis Suárez in January, their first transfer window as owners, was another factor in Liverpool’s rediscovered optimism, although with £56m raised in the same month by selling Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel, the full extent of their largesse remains to be seen this summer.

It is still to be confirmed that Dalglish will be manager when Liverpool next enter the transfer market, of course, although talks have opened over long-term contracts for both the Scot and his first-team coach, Steve Clarke. Another indication that FSG are content with the existing managerial structure is that several targets identified by Dalglish and Comolli continue to be monitored, such as Bolton’s Gary Cahill, Blackpool’s Charlie Adam, Aston Villa’s Ashley Young, José Enrique of Newcastle and the Rennes midfielder Yann M’Vila.

“Every summer is important for the club,” Dalglish said. “The better the business, the more successful the club is going to be. If you do good business, you’ve more chance of being successful. That just doesn’t mean buying players and letting players go, it’s about developing what else you have. This summer is going to be very important, not just for Liverpool Football Club, but every football club. And the better decisions you make, the better business you do, the better chance you have of setting yourself up for next season.”

Dalglish says talk of a Liverpool revival remains premature but, with the academy prospering and the new owners in place, he is confident the club has the foundations to prosper after a turbulent period. He said: “I hope there’s a reality to it. I know this time around the football club is the same as last time around [when he was in charge from 1985 to 1991]. It’s always been everyone singing from the same hymn sheet and that’s what it is at the moment. The longer that continues the better chance we have of fulfilling dreams and ambitions. As soon as you start to diversify you have no chance.

“I think the best phrase for now is ‘work in progress’. For everybody – the owners and the football side of it. I don’t think it would be right to judge anything at this moment in time. We have to wait a while and see what happens in a year or two. It’s positive work in progress.”

Carroll and Jamie Carragher, meanwhile, will both require late fitness tests ahead of Saturday’s home game with Birmingham City. The £35m striker suffered a knee injury in the draw at Arsenal on Sunday while Carragher was carried off with concussion following a collision with Flanagan. Both have made progress this week but have not been declared fit to face Birmingham yet.

Kenny DalglishLiverpoolAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk

• Director of football says Anfield is attractive to leading players
• American owners express concern at squad’s lack of depth

Damien Comolli has promised further investment in “top players” at Liverpool this summer as the club seeks to improve a squad that left John W Henry dismayed following last October’s £300m takeover.

Fenway Sports Group, the club’s owners, spent a further £57.8m in January to sign Andy Carroll and Luis Suárez from Newcastle United and Ajax respectively, although that figure was offset by the £56m raised through the sales of Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel. Despite the prospect of another season apart from the European elite, Comolli believes the club’s profile and the ambition of Fenway Sports Group will produce substantial investment this summer.

Liverpool’s director of football said: “There will be movement, that’s for sure. We are very attractive for a lot of players because of what we did in January and a game like that [the 3-1 defeat of Manchester United] is fantastic publicity for us around the world. Since the day after I was getting phone calls from agents telling me that their player would love to come and that we are going to compete next year if we get it right. We are attractive to a lot of top players and we want to bring top players to this club.”

Henry, who has declared that Liverpool will win their first league title since 1990 under the ownership of the Fenway Sports Group, has described the disparity between the club’s wage bill and strength in depth as the worst surprise of his six-month tenure.

Liverpool are facing a second successive season outside the Champions League, and possibly even the Europa League next term, and Henry believes he inherited a squad that did not justify the club’s expenditure. Liverpool joined Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal as the only clubs in English football history to spend over £100m on wages in 2008-09, although they have since been joined by Manchester City among the highest payers in the Premier League.

“The worst surprise [upon takeover] was the lack of depth in the squad,” said Henry. “Our biggest concern in taking on this responsibility was this issue and it was a bigger issue than we feared. There was a huge multi-year payroll for a squad that had very little quality depth.”

Henry, speaking to Four Four Two magazine, insisted FSG would help end Liverpool’s 21-year wait for a 19th league title. He added: “Our No1 priority is to win the Premier League title. That is what we take with us each day to work as the force that drives us to excel. If we can accomplish that we will have put ourselves in a position to be successful on all fronts including Europe. Success is winning championships. It is nothing less than that. And when you win a championship – and we will – success isn’t measured or accomplished by winning once.”

Kenny Dalglish, meanwhile, has brought the academy youngsters John Flanagan and Jack Robinson into the first-team squad at Melwood as he deals with a defensive injury crisis that could leave him without Glen Johnson, Daniel Agger and Martin Kelly for Monday’s visit of Manchester City.

LiverpoolJohn W HenryAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk