Kenny Dalglish was obviously happy with Liverpool`s 6-1 FA Cup victory over Brighton but also had some sympathy for the opposition, especially given the own goal nature of three of the strikes.
The 60-year-old manager even joked that someone else could tell Steven Gerrard his effort was going down as an own goal. As originally quoted on the official club website, Dalglish commented in his post-match press conference: “Three (OG`s)? Are you taking Steven [Gerrard]’s off him as well? You better tell him!
“You can’t blame their boys for wanting to defend their goal, they were just a bit unfortunate.
“Someone said we had 15 attempts on target. We’ve said we’d like to get our conversion rate up and today that’s not a bad return.”
Liverpool should have scored more in truth and amongst many other misses, Luis Suarez failed to convert an 80th minute penalty. Although the Uruguayan did score a few minutes later with a headed effort to add to earlier strikes from Martin Skrtel and Andy Carroll.
Dalglish appeared to give Suarez permission to take the spot kick despite other options being available. The Reds boss reflected: “That was my fault – I just let sentiment get in the way. But I’ll learn my lesson.”
On the result and performance in particular, which sets up a home quarter-final clash with Stoke City in March, Dalglish elaborated: “It’s a good victory but it was more difficult than the scoreline suggests. Brighton played very well against us at the AMEX in the League Cup and for half an hour or 40 minutes here they were very good as well.
“We deserved to win and go through but whether the score is a true reflection of how the game went, that’s open to conjecture.”
Surprisingly the match marked the first time Suarez, Gerrard and Carroll had started together in a Liverpool shirt.
“I never realised that,” added Dalglish. “The three of them are fantastic footballers and they played fantastically today. The more any team gets their iconic players on the pitch, the more chance they’ve got of being successful.
“But we’ll stand and be counted as a squad.”
Finally, the Scot commented on the absence of Daniel Agger and Craig Bellamy and whether they will be fit for the Carling Cup final.
“We had a couple of injuries on Friday and Saturday with Bellers and Daniel Agger,” he said. “We’ll have to see how they are but they should be alright, I think.”
Click here to read the full Vital Liverpool match report of the game
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