Dirk Kuyt says not all the blame for Liverpool’s torrid season can be placed on the shoulders of former manager Roy Hodgson, whilst welcoming Kenny Dalglish back to the Anfield hot seat.
News broke on Saturday morning of Hodgson’s departure from the club following a 3-1 defeat to Blackburn on Wednesday night, Liverpool’s 9th league defeat of the season. Dalglish will be first team manager until the end of the season, starting with yesterday’s 1-0 FA Cup defeat to Manchester Utd.
Kuyt says whilst the team were very disappointed with Sunday’s result, Dalglish’s return has given the whole club a much-needed morale boost.
“Kenny Dalglish is a legend and a very important man for this club. I think it says everything about him as a man that he is here to help us and put us back where we belong.” Kuyt told the club’s official web site.
“It is very sad that Roy has gone because you can never just blame one man. We must all take the blame and perform better.
“It’s disappointing to lose a manager like that but a very big plus that we can bring in someone like Kenny. He is a very experienced man and someone who can have a positive impact on the squad.
“The most important thing is to make Liverpool a winning team again.”
Liverpool were the subject of a bad refereeing decision by Howard Webb in the first minute, awarding a penalty to Utd for a dive from striker Dimitar Berbatov. Ryan Giggs’ conversion from the spot was enough to see the hosts into the fourth round of the FA Cup.
On the game, Kuyt said refereeing decisions didn’t help, but there are a lot of positives to be taken out of the performance.
“We were very disappointed by our start to the game. It was a big decision by the referee, but these things happen,” he added.
“I think we responded well and played some good football before we had the second disappointment when our captain was sent off. It was a big blow for the team.
“The lads stuck together after that and in the second half we tried everything to nick a goal. It was very difficult to create chances but we worked hard and showed good effort.
“We are all disappointed because we wanted to win but we can take positives from this and must now look ahead to Blackpool and Everton.”
