FEB 25 — Every great journey, the saying goes, starts with one small step.

The League Cup might be the least important of English football’s major trophies, but tomorrow’s final between Liverpool and Malaysian-owned Cardiff City at Wembley Stadium could act as a springboard to bigger things for Kenny Dalglish’s team.

But it could work the other way as well — in fact, it’s not much of an exaggeration to regard this weekend’s game as a possible make-or-break occasion for Dalglish’s reign at Anfield.

It’s coming up to six years now since Liverpool last won a trophy, beating West Ham United on penalties to lift the 2005 FA Cup after an exciting game that was chiefly memorable for Steven Gerrard’s thunderbolt equaliser from 30 yards in the last minute of normal time.

The six years since that thrilling occasion have been largely disappointing for the Reds; Rafa Benitez’s initially encouraging reign eventually petered out into confused stagnation, and the unfortunate Roy Hodgson suffered the inevitable failure of trying to pick up the messy pieces that Benitez had left behind.

And so, a little over a year ago, Liverpool had been in decline for a couple of years with no imminent prospect of an upturn in fortunes. But then, like the proverbial knight in shining armour, along came King Kenny to save the day.

The appointment of Kenny Dalglish to replace the beleaguered Hodgson was exactly the injection of optimism that the club and its enormous global fan base needed. One of the most popular players ever to wear the famous red shirt, Dalglish had only further enhanced his status amongst Liverpool fans with a trophy-laded spell as manager in the late Eighties... and now here he is to do it all again.

That’s the theory, at least, and the initial months of Dalglish’s second reign were encouraging, leading his newly inherited team away from the unthinkable position of relegation trouble towards a more than respectable sixth-place finish.

But the Scotsman’s honeymoon period is coming to an end, and he will soon be under pressure to deliver.

This has been a far from easy season for the Reds, with the conduct of Dalglish and his employers coming in for intense criticism in the wake of the infamous allegations of racism against Luis Suarez: whatever the rights and wrongs of that particular case, Liverpool Football Club hardly handled themselves in glory with their stubborn and insensitive handling of the affair.

There have been setbacks on the field of play, as well. With Arsenal and Chelsea both enduring very inconsistent campaigns, the door has been left wide open for Liverpool to establish a place in the all-important top four. But they’ve failed to fully take advantage of that opportunity and currently sit in a disappointing seventh place, mainly due to a disappointing number of home draws against lowly opposition.

Dalglish is much beloved by Liverpool fans, but their patience will not last forever — even for him. Defeat tomorrow would be a bitter blow, and would lead some Reds supporters to question their manager for the first time.

However, the other side of the coin is that victory against Cardiff could give Liverpool an upsurge in confidence as they attempt to finish the season by making further progress in the FA Cup and securing a spot in next season’s Champions League.

In attempting to predict the possible consequences of tomorrow’s final, we don’t need to go back too far to find a precedent.

This time last year, Arsenal arrived in the League Cup final against Birmingham City hoping to end a six-year trophy drought. But they failed capitalise on their clear superiority in the game and paid the price in the last minute when Laurent Koscielny and Wojciech Szczęsny got themselves into a muddle to gift Obafemi Martins a tap-in matchwinner.

Rather than being the catalyst for resurgence that Arsenal fans were desperately hoping for, that loss against Birmingham seems to have been a watershed moment for Arsene Wenger and his team — a devastating defeat that the Gunners have still not recovered from. When, in due course, the dust settles on Wenger’s glittering career as Arsenal manager, that occasion may even be pinpointed as the moment that everything began to fall apart.

And now, just like Arsenal 12 months ago, Liverpool travel to Wembley with the aim of ending their run of six years without a major honour. Will history repeat itself and send Dalglish spiralling slowly towards the Anfield exit door, or will the Reds get the job done and put themselves firmly on an upward curve that could lead to far greater glories in years to come?

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.