Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has suggested his side will need to revert to a more direct style of play if they are to improve on an underwhelming Premier League season.
The Reds are currently mired in seventh in the league table - closer to West Brom in 14th than Newcastle in sixth - after a desperately inconsistent season that has been characterized by poor home form and off the field distractions.
That continued on Saturday, as Wigan stunned their hosts at Anfield to win 2-1 - just days after the Merseyside club had thrown away a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 against another relegation-threatened side, QPR.
Despite this, Dalglish believes the criticism his side have attracted has been unfairly warranted - although he did suggest that he will be changing his tactics in the search for an upturn in fortunes.
"It's amazing," Dalglish said of the criticism of his team. "You can pick out our league form and then you can look at someone else who has been knocked out of three cups, yet they take that as a good season for them.
"It depends how you depict it. We are not saying we were at our best [against QPR and Wigan] but there were circumstances, with three games in [seven] days.
"We have got a problem winning games in the league. We have to educate ourselves and maybe we have to not play the lovely football that we have been."
When pressed on that last statement, the Scot added: "Maybe we have to change our philosophies a wee bit."
Continuing to defend his side, Dalglish suggested that injuries had savaged his squad's strength in depth and made it difficult to cope with a fixture pile-up - hinting that he would ask for further reinforcements in the summer.
"If we hadn't had as many injuries, we could have freshened it up a bit but we have not got that luxury at the moment and we have to get on with it," Dalglish said. "The body was willing but the mind just wouldn't take them there. We can look at every game and we can find valid reasons - and we are not looking for excuses, we are looking for reasons.
"That was [Jamie Carragher's] third game, Steven Gerrard's third game, there were a few of them had their third game in seven days and that is a long run, especially when you have travel in between.
"Maybe that is the price you have to pay for success but for us, if we want to be successful, we have to be able to handle it. The best way we can handle it is if we have more players to choose from but at the moment we are not blessed with that."
1 comment:
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