Dalglish Sees Encouraging Signs

Kenny Dalglish believes the nature of Liverpool's performances against both Manchester clubs is an indicator of the headway being made on Merseyside.

Sunday's 1-1 draw against 10-man Manchester City may have been the fourth successive time they have been held at home but that does not really tell the full story.

Having gone behind to Vincent Kompany's 31st-minute goal they equalized within two minutes when Charlie Adam's shot was turned past Joe Hart by Joleon Lescott.

Pressure

From that point most of the attacking was done by the team in red and when Mario Balotelli was sent off for a second bookable offence just 18 minutes after coming on, the pressure only increased on Roberto Mancini's side.

Had it not been for England goalkeeper Joe Hart, who pulled off a series of good saves, Liverpool would have inflicted City's first Premier League defeat of the season.

It was a similar story just over a month ago when Manchester United were the visitors and although there have been dropped points against Norwich and Swansea in between, manager Dalglish can see the positives.

"We have played both Manchester clubs here now and we have walked away a little bit disappointed we have only take one point off each," said the Scot.

"Maybe that is the mark of the improvements we have made here.

"We are delighted with the way we played and the quality of the performance and with a bit more luck we could have had three points.

"We will play a lot worse than that and get three points."

Dalglish was full of praise for his players who, certainly for the majority of the second half, made City look ordinary - something very few English teams have done this season.

"They had fantastic attitude, commitment, determination and pride in playing for the club and we can't ask for much more than that," he said.

"If you are playing a team the quality of Manchester City you can't afford to have anyone playing below standard.

"I don't think any one of our players could be - or should be - disappointed with their performance.

"If we can continue doing what we are doing then they will get more points than they lose."