Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has threatened some of his players with a swift exit from the club if they persist with the attitude which contributed to a 3-1 defeat at Bolton.
Mark Davies and Nigel Reo-Coker were able to put their side 2-0 up inside half an hour and although Craig Bellamy's seventh of the season reduced the deficit, Gretar Steinsson restored the two-goal cushion just five minutes into the second half.
For the first time since returning as Reds boss just over a year ago, the Scot publicly criticised his squad. He said: "There is no-one at this football club who doesn't have respect for other people. If that was what the problem was, if they thought this game was not as important as the next one, then fine - but they won't be here."
Dalglish believes they were distracted by Wednesday's forthcoming Carling Cup semi-final second leg against Manchester City, which they go into holding a slender 1-0 lead, and the FA Cup fourth round tie at home to Manchester United next weekend.
He added: "The result is disappointing but the most disappointing thing for me was I don't think they were ready to play the game. I don't think the approach was correct, I don't think the way we went about our work was correct. The foundations the football club have always been built on is respect for other people.
"It is built on the philosophy that the next game is the most important one, not the one that is two or three down the line. If they needed a lesson to be taught to them then this was it. If they think they can just turn up and get a result and not be competitive and not match the opposition for effort and then they have had a lesson.
Wanderers made it 10 points from their last six matches to lift themselves out of the bottom three and manager Owen Coyle was delighted not just with the result but the performance.
"When you play a club of the stature of Liverpool sometimes you can get a result and sometimes you ride your luck but nothing could be further from the truth," he said.
"We were in good form coming into the game so we had great belief in the way we went about it. We believed we could win. The great thing was not just the win but how we won. It was a team performance.
"I can't say it was pleasurable, having a late kick-off and watching the results come in. When you are second-bottom of the league it is quite agonising but when the dust settled we knew a win would take us out of the bottom three."
Comment 1 - 12 of 12
Kenny Dalglish needs to sack ONE person only..... Himself.
Why don't we pay players based on their performance and result after each game? Might just be the carrot that is needed.
kenny is old like the team.. goin nowhere fast
Kenny needs to buy strikers who actually know where the blooming goal is.
get rid of carroll and get torres back plus one other to help out suarez.
sell kuytt, maxi and one or two others too raise funds if need be.
also, what about giving some of the youngsters a try, like souza from the reserves, he looks brilliant when seen him on LFCTV
danielle.13 i think when he said "as good as they were ,we were eaqualy as bad" he was showing bolton some credit.
John, comment 4. You clown. he's played, managed and a lot more behind the scenes at Liverpool. Non management?? Get a grip, The combination of this racism garbage, suspensions, injuries and the FACT that players think that because gerrards back we will automatically be fantastic. Andy Carroll needs selling, Their is his BIG mistake,
How about giving Bolton a bit of credit,Kenny ? I can`t see too much difference between "King Kenny" and Hodgson except the blind loyalty and sentimentality Liverpool fans have for Kenny, most of these players he`s slating he bought
That's a sure way to fire up players, Queen Kenny will lose his dressing room very quickly with those comments.
He'll be gone soon.
i have been a liverpool fan since i was 9 years old......never have i seen this bunch of so called professional players do their job as bas as this season.....if i was to do my job as bad i would have been sacked by now. kenny needs to drop players and maybe even put the reserves out......they cant do a worse job as the first squad!!!!
carroll will play for england one day,as soon as he escapes dalglish's style of non-management.and thats a fact-as we like to say in scotland.
Well Kenny actions speaks louder than words!!!!! The players you field lack creativity they lack a clinical finisher.
You cannot rely on OLD BOY GERRAD and Suarez to provide create and score.So owners step up and open your wallets NOW NOW NOW before we lose time on trying to produce a strong finish to yet another lack lustre season.
THE SHYTY TIN POT CARLING CUP cannot make up for pish poor results!!!!
ADAM HAS NO ENGINE AND NEEDS TO WORK ON HIS LACTATE THRESHOLD AND UP HIS INTEVAL SESSIONS TO RAISE HIS VO2 MAX
HENDERSON NO FLARE NO PASSION
KUYT NO VISION CANNOT FINISH OR CROSS A BALL NO CREATIVITY
JOHNSON LACKS IN DEFENSIVE PROWESS
CARROL WELL DO I NEED TO TO SAY IT EH AR EH AR FEED HIM A CARROT
DOWNING LACKS SELF BELIEF BECAUSE HE IS SURROUNDED BY HAS BEENS
NOW OWNERS SPEND YOU MONEY WISELY ON PROPER PLAYERS NOT USELESS SHYTE YOU HAVE PREVIOUSLY BOUGHT
ONE WELL PISSED OFF LFC FAN AND I`M CANCELLING MY LFCTV SUBSCRIPTION
loosers you'l never win owt with slack carol the girl
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