KENNY DALGLISH has moved to prevent any complacency undermining Liverpool’s approach against Brighton by warning his players that League Cup final places are on the line at Anfield.
Liverpool host Gus Poyet’s side in the FA Cup fifth round tomorrow before turning their thoughts to the Wembley date with Cardiff City a week later. Dalglish says he has yet to consider his team for the League Cup final, with the FA Cup tie his only concern, but admits players can secure or squander their Wembley places in the fifth-round meeting with Brighton.
“Every day in training if someone does well, or in any game, it never does them any harm. If someone plays well against Brighton it gives you a problem for the team the following week. I’ve not got any idea what my team will be for then. The target is to progress into the next round of the FA Cup. We are in a better position than we were a year ago – we were out of the FA Cup, out of the Carling Cup and tailed off in the league. We’re four points off fourth spot, the fifth round of the cup’s coming up and are in the Carling Cup final. We have a lot to play for.”
The manager accused his team of complacency when they prepared for their cup double-header with Manchester City and Manchester United, in the League Cup semi-final and FA Cup fourth round respectively, with a 3-1 defeat at Bolton. He is confident there will be no distractions ahead of the League Cup final.
“Every one of them wants to get into the next round but they can’t expect that if they repeat the Bolton performance . . . I think they have that (the Bolton defeat) out of their system now. If they don’t play as well as they’re capable of it is not because the final is coming.
The Liverpool manager believes the signs are clear that the club is moving in the right direction.
Their record this term in the FA Cup and League Cup is beyond question, but things have not been so straightforward in the league.
The Merseysiders are seventh, four points off the top four, while the Luis Suarez racism row has provided the club with some well-documented difficulties.
Overall though, Dalglish feels the campaign to date has been “relatively successful” and the Scot points to where Liverpool were a year ago as evidence that real progress is being made. “The players deserve every credit,” he said.
“They’ve had a relatively successful season . . . but we want to push on and improve where we are,” he added.
Liverpool have played Brighton already this season, winning 2-1 at the Amex Stadium in a League Cup tie in September, and Dalglish is expecting a tough assignment for his team.
“We have got a really difficult game coming up on Sunday,” said Dalglish. We’ve played them already in the League Cup away and we did particularly well on the night to overcome that, but this will be a hard game.”
Liverpool midfielder Maxi Rodriguez could make his return to the team for the clash with the Seagulls and Dalglish has also indicated that defenders Jon Flanagan and Jack Robinson may come into his thinking for the tie.
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