Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish lauds ‘fantastic’ Luis Suarez after victory over Fulham

Kenny Dalglish (Getty Images)

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Kenny Dalglish praised his Liverpool players following Monday night’s comprehensive 5-2 victory over Fulham at Craven Cottage and singled out January signing Luis Suarez.

Suarez was at the heart of much of his side’s good work on the night and notched his fourth goal for the club when rounding Fulham Mark Schwarzer late on.

“He Luis Suarez was fantastic, running as hard as he was at the beginning as he was at the end,” Dalglish told reporters.

“He has really settled in, him and his family have settled into the area and the football.”

Without Andy Carroll, who Dalglish confirmed was suffering from a bruise, Liverpool raced into a three goal lead inside 16 minutes on the night as Maxi Rodriguez helped himself to a brace – before later completing his hat-trick – and Dirk Kuyt netted thanks to a blunder by Mark Schwarzer in the Fulham goal. 

Despite a second-half fight-back by the hosts, the Reds were able to maintain their lead through maxi’s third and Suarez as they completed a night’s work which more than pleased their manager.

“It was a fantastic result and performance, well deserved,” Dalglish added. “Mark’s Hughes done a great job here, coming to Craven Cottage is really difficult so five goals was beyond expectation,” added the 60-year-old manager.

“With the quality Fulham have got, you’d expect them to come back after halftime with the manager they’ve got, and they did.

“Due to work on and off the pitch, for us, we’re delighted with the players.”

The result takes Dalglish’s side two points clear of Tottenham into fifth and only four points behind Manchester City who entertain Spurs tomorrow night but the Scot is calm in his approach to targeting league positions and admitted he would not view Europa League participation as a problem next season.

Quizzed on targeting the top four, Dalglish said: “I don’t know. We play every game to win it, at end of the season we’ll add up the points and see where we finish.  We will just have to see, I don’t know where yet.

“If we finished fifth we’d be delighted, no once anticipated the run-in since January.”

Dalglish refused to be drawn on his contract situation as fans clamber for the Liverpool board to seal the deal which would grant the former Blackburn boss the opportunity to lead the Reds into next season. 

Since the legendary No.7’s interim appointment in January, the Reds have only endured three Premier League defeats and four wins from five matches have prompted talk of title form which could give the club an outside chance of pushing for that elusive honour next term. 

Nonetheless, Dalglish was praiseworthy of champions elect Manchester United for their endeavours this term.

He added: “Normally the leagues won by the best team in it, and Man United are that. We’re rivals, competitors, but there’s no disrespect.”