Kenny Dalglish has revealed he is under no pressure to sell players – and that Liverpool’s owners are instead urging him to continue his summer spending.
Bankrolled by Fenway Sports Group, the Anfield outfit has spent more than £50million to strengthen their squad during the transfer window.
In front of the biggest home attendance in more than 25 years, the new-look Liverpool, featuring four debutants, began the Premier League season in stuttering fashion on Saturday when they were held to a 1-1 home draw by Sunderland.
Such is the bulging squad now at Dalglish’s disposal, the Anfield manager could have named an entire starting XI of senior professionals who weren’t even in the 18-man party.
But the Scot has suggested principal owner John Henry, who was in attendance at the weekend, is encouraging more signings before transfer deadline at the end of the month.
“I’m not under pressure to sell,” said Dalglish. “We are under more pressure to get somebody in. The owners have been fantastic and there is no pressure in any way, shape or form.”
Liverpool nevertheless are hoping to move on a number of fringe players in the coming weeks, although Dalglish was adamant his team’s tired second-half performance was a consequence of putting too many players in the shop window during pre-season games at the expense of regular first-teamers.
“We had to be fair to everybody we have on the books and we gave them all a reasonable opportunity to get themselves fit and to prove they were worthy of a game,” said the manager.
“I don’t see any reason why that is not the correct way to go about things.”
Former Sunderland man Jordan Henderson, Stewart Downing, Charlie Adam and Jose Enrique were all handed debuts at the weekend, the latter barely 24 hours following his arrival from Newcastle United after Fabio Aurelio suffered an Achilles injury in training on Friday.
And Dalglish said: “It will take time to get to know each other but the most important factor is they got through the game.
“Two of the players have just come back from the Copa America. It’s a big ask.
“But we knew what we were doing when we picked the side.
“How long will it take to gel? It might be next week, I don’t know. There is no timescale, that’s a certainty. Whatever time they need, they will have.”
Sunderland have bought a clutch of new players but manager Steve Bruce selected just two for his starting line-up, man-of-the-match Wes Brown and Sebastian Larsson, who scored the visitors’ equalizer.
And Bruce said: “The big thing when you make big changes is it’s very difficult to put them all in straight away and I’m sure Kenny will be thinking that too.
“It is going to take time isn’t it but if there’s one thing that they’ve all got in common it’s that they’re all good players.
“They need to make them gel, settle in the area and understand what Liverpool is all about.
“That’s the hard part for all of us. New players need time.”
Despite having only returned to training this week after helping Uruguay win the Copa America last month, Luis Suarez started the game at the weekend.
He won and missed a sixth-minute penalty before heading Liverpool’s opener, and Dalglish is wary of overburdening the striker.
“Luis was never going to finish the game,” said the Anfield manager. “He has got so much he can give and whatever he’s got he will give you. It’s not fair to push him past that limit. I don’t think he expects people to ask too much, he just does it anyway, willingly.
“For us, he has got to be managed and we will do our best to manage him.
“He came back on such a high that it would not have been right to leave him out of the starting XI.”
Saturday’s attendance of 45,018 was the highest at Anfield since Liverpool were beaten 2-0 by Everton on February 22 1986.
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