Dalglish: Luck betraying the Reds

Kenny rues Anfield misfortunes

By Zain Alvi | 23rd April 2012

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish admits that he has very few words to add in his continuing defense of an inconsistent Reds side but argues that the club’s Premier League position could have been a lot better had luck gone their way.

Yesterday’s 1-0 defeat at home to West Bromwich Albion was one of the many setbacks that the team has suffered at Anfield this season. In contrast, they have won some difficult cup fixtures away from home, including February’s Carling Cup final and more recently, the derby FA Cup semifinal against Everton at Wembley.

Some have attributed Liverpool’s poor league form – they have picked up only 12 points out of a possible 45 in 2012 – to a somewhat apathetic attitude after they secured a Europa League berth by virtue of their Carling Cup triumph over Cardiff City.

While Dalglish understands that there is little room for the eighth-place Reds to suffer more slip-ups given that they can end up finishing in the bottom half of the table, he maintains that his players have always been fully committed to fighting for the highest possible finish in the Premier League.

“It’s not just been one of those days; it’s been like that seven or eight times here. After we won the Carling Cup, we came back and played Arsenal and we were brilliant. We got to the (FA Cup) final last week after beating Everton and they came out today and were excellent again,” Dalglish told LiverpoolFC.tv about the approach of his players.

The manager added: “It’s great credit to the players that they continued to go at the opposition and they made chance after chance. The woodwork, again, wasn’t our best friend.

“The players showed great resolve in the way they went about their work and because of that they made a lot of chances on goal but they just couldn’t get a break. There’s not much else that we can add to what we’ve said before so many times after a game at Anfield.”

The defeat to the Baggies was more hurtful than some of the other recent setbacks because the Reds suddenly seemed to enjoy a nice stroke of luck when Andy Carroll scored late to secure an unlikely 3-2 win at Blackburn last week.

Dalglish refused to point to luck as either a success factor or an excuse for failure, but stated that his side has not had much of it on their side in the league this season.

“They (Liverpool players) just need a bit of luck I think. It sounds repetitive but it’s not an excuse. We’re not running away from something. It’s not as if there’s something drastically wrong. It is just a piece of good fortune that we need,” he concluded.

On May 5, Dalglish will hope that his side enjoys much better luck when they square off against rivals Chelsea in a highly anticipated FA Cup final at Wembley.