Dalglish cheerful after cup mauling
Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish was delighted to get his star-studded trio of attacking stars together at last in yesterday’s 6-1 FA Cup hammering of Brighton.
The Anfield mauling was the first time Steven Gerrard, Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez have started a match together.
That the latter two scored and Gerrard was his usual influential self bodes well ahead of Sunday’s Carling Cup final against Cardiff at Wembley.
However, Dalglish was also keen to point out that Liverpool are now favourites for the FA Cup and still in the hunt for a Champions League place, which the Scot believes the remainder of his squad should get due credit for.
“The three of them are fantastic footballers and they played really well today,” said Dalglish.
“The more any team gets iconic players like they are on the pitch the better chance they have of being successful.
“But we have got more than three players.
“The fact we have done as well as we have and that was the first time the three of them have started a match tells you how well the other boys have done.
“We will stand and be counted as a squad and I don’t think we have done too badly this year.”
Dalglish confirmed absent duo Craig Bellamy and Daniel Agger should both be fit for Liverpool’s first Wembley appearance since 1996.
And Carroll has certainly done his chances of a starting berth no harm whatsoever with a powerful display.
Were it not for his £35million price tag, the former Newcastle star might be judged rather less severely by his critics.
However, Dalglish insists Britain’s costliest player has nothing to prove in Merseyside.
“We have always been positive, and we always will be,” said the Liverpool boss.
“We will always be supportive of any player who comes to this football club.
“It doesn’t matter what his name is. We will judge him and we will judge whether we are happy or unhappy.”
Liverpool will now take on Stoke in the quarter-finals following their biggest win since September 2009.
And Brighton boss Gustavo Poyet admitted his side were the architects of their own downfall by contributing an incredible three own goals to Liverpool’s tally.
Liam Bridcutt twice found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, whilst Lewis Dunk’s disastrous attempt at controlling a Luis Suarez cross also ended in calamity.
“There are a few funny ones in there. They were comic goals,” said Poyet.
“I haven’t spoken to the players about it. There were so many individual mistakes it would take all day.”
