Dalglish hails ´outstanding´ Liverpool

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish praised his players’ spirit after a memorable 3-1 victory over Premier League leaders Manchester United.

Dirk Kuyt’s hat-trick sent the Kop home happy but Dalglish was thrilled with the effort put in by his entire squad.

“Everyone that supports Liverpool has had a great day. I’m very pleased with the performance of the players,” he said afterwards.

“I thought the way they went about the job, their commitment, their attitude and pride they took in playing for the football club and in their own performance was the reason they got the result.”

“I thought everybody gave everything they’ve got. It’s great credit to them they played so well.”

“They were all outstanding in different ways. Obviously Dirk got three goals and he’ll get the headlines and Suarez played fantastically well but by the way, the rest of them weren’t too far behind either.”

Dalglish was especially pleased with the victory that took Liverpool back into sixth spot.

“It’s very important for us, we know United are a great benchmark,” he said. “But our season is not finished. We’ve got another three points and we want to get as many as we possibly can.”

Dalglish refused to talk about the game’s first-half flashpoints, including Jamie Carragher’s tackle on Nani that saw the United player stretchered off.

“I think he was fortunate to be playing for Liverpool today,” Dalgish said of Carragher.

“It`s not correct to talk about incidents because the match was played in a great spirit.”

“The more important thing was the quality of the football. And that’s what should take the focal point. Both sets of players made it an enjoyable spectacle. I would rather concentrate on that.”

The win was extra special for the Liverpool manager, who celebrated his 60th birthday during the week.

“I don’t know how long this birthday is going to last, I might be 70 by the time it finishes!” he said.

“They have always been fantastic support to myself and my whole family. It was a bit emotional when they started to sing it (Happy Birthday). The day went really well for us.”