Dalglish blasts players for "lack of respect"

Jan 21, 2012, 22:33 GMT

London - Kenny Dalglish publicly lambasted his Liverpool players after a lacklustre 3-1 defeat at Bolton Wanderers on Saturday, accusing them of disrespecting the traditions of the club.

After starting the season brightly and perhaps not getting the results their performances deserved, Liverpool have faltered badly recently.

'The most disappointing thing for me was that I don't think the approach was correct,' Dalglish said after the defeat at the Reebok Stadium.

'The foundations of this club have always been based on respect for other people. You can't come to places like this thinking all you need to do is turn up to get a result.'

'That's what I think we did today, and that's why we were taught a lesson.'

Liverpool were sloppy from the off and went behind to a Mark Davies goal after three or four minutes.

'It's not the right way to represent the club,' Dalglish went on. 'I don't think we were even ready to play the game.'

'That's probably why we lost a goal after four minutes. I don't think the way we went about our work was correct.'

Liverpool face Manchester City in the second leg of the Carling Cup semi-final on Wednesday, followed by Manchester United in the FA Cup fourth round at the weekend and it may be that those two key games affected the players' concentration.

'This philosophy of this club has always been that the next game is the most important one, not the one two or three games down the line,' Dalglish said.

'You have to match the opposition for effort and commitment and we didn't do that. I hope a lesson has been learned.'

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