Kenny's Verdict
"We have total respect for Brighton and for what Gus Poyet's achieved but you can't say we didn't deserve to win that game," Dalglish said.
The win came on the back of a 4-0 rout by Tottenham in the Barclays Premier League last weekend, and Dalglish was thrilled to get back to winning ways after making seven changes to his side, which included debuts for Bellamy and Sebastian Coates. "I think for us it was a fantastic response for what happened on Sunday so we're delighted." (Source: Liverpoolfc.tv)
Dalglish's upbeat words after the game were spoken with a man full of confidence and pride after coming through a tough Brighton test in the Carling Cup. A goal from new signing Craig Bellamy lead Liverpool to a comprehensible 2-1 victory over a brave Brighton side, whose efforts cannot be left forgotten especially against a strong Liverpool XI.
After a miserable Sunday clash with Tottenham Hotspur in London, this response was a perfect bounce-back to the 4-0 defeat. Dalglish spoke with praise about the return of club talisman and captain Steven Gerrard who spoke after the game about his delight of leaving the "nightmare" of his injury that has left him out since March.
However, Kenny was quick to explain that Gerrard's return would not be treated with poor thought and that his appearances will come slowly at a rate to suit the talismanic captain.
"If it had been four or five goals we'd have maybe given him a bit longer," Dalglish said. "We'll say again what we've said many times before, we'll manage Steven as well as we've managed everyone else and we'll look forward to that continuing. We're not going to throw him in and give him too many minutes. It's fantastic to see him back so don't let's spoil it by being irresponsible." (Source: Liverpoolfc.tv).
Personal Verdict
Brighton was the perfect way and game to see how an ailing Liverpool team could react and recover. Arsene Wenger spoke earlier in the week about Arsenal's season. He said that it would depend on how "they react" (source: BBC) to their 8-2 and 4-3 defeats to Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers respectively. With Liverpool, I saw the same words in my mind. With millions of supporters watching Liverpool on Sunday in disbelief that both Charlie Adam and Martin Skrtel were sent off, it was hard to understand what went wrong. You can blame referee decisions, you can blame controversy over the team choices, passion of the players and attitudes. But at the end of the day, it was about the performance, and Liverpool lacked it. Pressure was on for the Brighton game, and the reaction was perfect.
You're told from young, that whenever you lose or fail; you don't just leave it be. You rise to the challenge, you make sure you don't make the same mistakes. Liverpool proved how they can could bounce back from the loss at Stoke and then against Tottenham on Sunday. Many may not give Brighton much hope, but with the performance played it was always going to be a tough game. Especially in Cup matches, the underdogs seem to have a knack of popping up. I don't think we'll ever forget our loss last season in this competition, or seeing Havant and Waterlooville up 2-0 at Anfield.
Liverpool played with spark and pride. They learnt from their mistakes, and they capitalised on their players capabilities and specialities. Craig Bellamy put on a star performance to inject pace along side Luis Suarez to consistently pressure and create difficulties in the Brighton's defense. Liverpool looked in shape, and determined. Concentrated to prove doubters wrong.
The return of Steven Gerrard was a beautiful sight. I won't lie. He is a hero, a master, a talisman. He is our captain. Hopefully with correct guidance, and treatment. Gerrard will return to his top form, and lead Liverpool once again into football stardom. After all…he's never let us down has he?
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