By Luke Reddy
8 May 2011 22:02:00
Jamie Carragher, Liverpool
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Kenny Dalglish has championed the commitment shown by Jamie Carragher throughout his Liverpool career and believes the defender has plenty more to give as he prepares to make his 666th appearance for the club against Fulham on Monday night.
The appearance will place the defender second to only Ian Callaghan in a list of players to have worn the red shirt the most times, superseding the 665 appearances made by both Ray Clemence and Emlyn Hughes.
Despite being almost guaranteed to fall short of Callaghan’s 857 outings for the Reds, Carragher has become a fans favourite at Anfield since making his debut under Roy Evans in 1996 and Dalglish believes the 33-year-old won’t be going anywhere too soon.
Dalglish told RTE Sport: “It is a great accolade for him to be the second in the table for most appearances as a Liverpool player.
“He has been here a while and hopefully he will be here for a lot longer.
“Cally Callaghan is iconic here not just because of the number of games he played but for the service he gave to the club and the success he brought with him.
“He was there at the start of the foundations for the club, he was in there with Shanks former manager Bill Shankly.
“Carra might have just missed out on that but he has been a part of an awful lot of people’s reign at the club and has served every single one of them superbly well.
“I am sure he has one or two miles left in him yet.”
Meanwhile, Reds midfielder Dirk Kuyt has also been singing the praises of a team-mate; focusing on January recruit Luis Suarez.
Well aware of the Uruguayan’s talent as a result of spending time on opposing teams whilst playing in Holland, Kuyt believes Suarez has shown he has the credentials to become a key man at Anfield.
“There are few players to come from abroad and settle like he has done,” he said.
“It has been said before, but we speak in Dutch together on the pitch. But Luis’s English is not bad either and that has helped him settle quickly.
“Although we are different players and offer different skills to the team, we are also both hard workers. Kenny has emphasised to us that he wants us to press high up the pitch and that has suited us.”
Carragher, Suarez and Kuyt are likely to all feature as Liverpool seek to jump above Tottenham into fifth place by beating Fulham on Monday night.