Dalglish saddened by Blackburn plight

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish says it is “sad” to see what is happening at rival club Blackburn Rovers.

On Boxing Day Dalglish’s Liverpool play host to Blackburn, a club which the Scot managed between 1991 and 1995 and led to their one and only Premier League title in 1995.

Blackburn sit bottom of the table going into the match with fans vigorously demanding the resignation of manager Steve Kean, and Dalglish was saddened to see his former club in such strife.

“The most sympathy I have is for Blackburn, because I was there for three or four years. It was a great place for me to go and work,” Dalglish said.

“There were some smashing people there that were in charge of the club at that particular moment in time and I would never have anticipated or foreseen the situation that they’re in at this particular moment in time.”

“You need support from your players, you need support from your owners, you need support from the crowd as well.”

“Their frustration is understandable in many ways, but I don’t think it’s helpful. It’s sad, really, that’s it’s come to that, but that’s the way it is.”

Blackburn will be desperate for points given their dire situation on the table, and Dalglish is expecting the visitors to come out firing.

“Obviously, Blackburn are at the wrong end of the table. They’re under a bit of pressure. There seems to be a bit of animosity around the club at the moment, but sometimes that’s an inspiration for people,” he said.

“For other people, obviously, that aren’t such strong characters, they shy away from it. We know and we expect them to be strong characters and come and do what they can to get themselves points on the board and try and help their manager as best they can as well.”

Liverpool lost ground on their top four rivals after their scoreless draw at Wigan on Wednesday, but Dalglish backed his squad to keep fighting.

“I think what a busy schedule of games demands is that you have a very strong squad, and I think we’ve got that. And if we get a bit of luck, we’ll get the results we all want,” he said.

“As we said before, the best position in any league is [on] top. The rest is, in a way, second best, so all we’ll do is concentrate on what we have to do and that’s take one game at a time.”

“We’ll add the points up, but I don’t think there’s anyone in the league who wouldn’t want to be in Manchester City’s place right now.”