Kenny on Gerrard and Arsenal
3rd Mar 2012 - Latest News
Kenny Dalglish revealed it won't be long before the injured Steven Gerrard is back on the pitch as he admitted his team must start 'winning ugly' following a late 2-1 defeat to Arsenal.
Gerrard missed the game with an injury sustained on England duty in midweek, but despite his absence Liverpool dominated against a team now 10 points ahead of them in fourth place.
The hosts took the lead on 23 minutes when Laurent Koscielny turned Jordan Henderson's cross into his own net.
The leveller came when van Persie headed a Bacary Sagna cross beyond Pepe Reina - and the Dutchman clinched victory for the Gunners with an injury-time hit at the Anfield Road End.
Dalglish felt it was an 'outstanding' performance from his trophy-winning players but conceded that more ruthlessness might be required in future.
"If you want to gauge it on points there'll be disappointment; if you want to gauge it on performance then I think we were fantastic," said the boss.
"To come away without three points is disappointing. The performance was outstanding.
Kenny's Arsenal verdict
"van Persie got two - we could have allowed him two with the opportunities we had and still won. But we never.
"Maybe that might be the next education for us - to be ugly and win.
"We're competitive, all right. We're attack minded, we can go forward, we can create chances and we can get penalties. Maybe the next bit is to be ugly and get the winning goal."
The result leaves Liverpool 10 points away from a Champions League spot with 12 fixtures remaining. They do, however, have a game in hand on their rivals.
LFC 1-2 Arsenal: 11 mins
"We've said before that we'll always play to win a game, and if we win games we'll add the points up at the end of the season and see who gets what," said Dalglish. "For us, we're disappointed because of the unbelievable performance we put in."
On Gerrard's injury, Dalglish added: "It won't be long, and Glen Johnson was out as a precaution as well. Daniel Agger is out with his ribs and Daniel is the one who'll be out longest out of the three lads."
