Dalglish praises Gerrard influence

Kenny Dalglish hailed the influence of captain Steven Gerrard after he came off the bench to inspire Liverpool to a 3-1 victory over Newcastle.

Gerrard came on as a 59th-minute substitute at Anfield on Friday and injected fresh impetus into Liverpool’s performance, culminating in a trademark goal 12 minutes from time that sealed the three points.

It was Gerrard’s second appearance since returning from an ankle infection and he ended the year on a bright note after being dogged by injury for much of 2011.

“When Steven is not playing he is influential so I suppose you can add the word ‘hugely’ for when he is playing,” Dalglish said.

“It’s great to see him getting a reward because he has worked really hard to get where he is. It was a freak injury and the boy deserves a bit of luck.”

“He is a hugely important player, everyone has admiration and appreciation for what he has done for the club, and he has a wee bit more mileage in him yet. He has put pressure on himself now by scoring a goal.”

Striker Craig Bellamy scored twice against his former club after Newcastle had taken the lead midway through an own goal by Daniel Agger.

Dalglish was delighted with his side’s display as Liverpool finally found form in front of goal at Anfield after drawing six of their Premier League home games this season.

“It’s probably the game that we have created the last chances at home,” Dalglish said. “I’m not relieved, just satisfied.”

“I thought we thoroughly deserved the victory. We showed great courage, desire and commitment to get back into the game after conceding the opening goal.”

Newcastle boss Alan Pardew was left to rue the free-kick against Cheik Tiote which led to Liverpool’s second goal.

“I thought the free-kick was the turning point. It was a tough call on us and we followed that up with an error that swung the game,” Pardew told SkySports.

“It was never a foul, I don’t know why the ref’s given that. We made an error in the free kick, the defender and the goalie got in the way of each other.”

“We weren’t at our best tonight. We had control at that point and if we had played a bit better going forward we could have got something from the game.”