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• Liverpool manager confident supporters will focus on football
• ‘As long as it’s respectful then there won’t be a problem’

Kenny Dalglish has said Liverpool have their “house in order” ahead of the emotive FA Cup tie against Manchester United and that both clubs have done all they can to prevent further controversy arising at Anfield.

The Liverpool manager and his United counterpart, Sir Alex Ferguson, called for supporters to focus solely on football on the eve of the fourth-round match, which comes three months after the Premier League game at Anfield that led to Patrice Evra making a complaint of racist abuse against Luis Suárez and the Uruguay international receiving an eight-match ban as a result.

Suárez is expected to be at Anfield as he serves the penultimate game of his suspension but the United manager refused to discuss whether Evra will start the game, as Mike Phelan, Ferguson’s assistant, has indicated he would. Dalglish described the tension and controversy surrounding the game as “a sideshow”, and believes it will remain secondary to a Cup tie between England’s biggest clubs should Liverpool produce a repeat of their impressive performance against Manchester City in the Carling Cup semi-final on Wednesday on and off the pitch.

The Liverpool manager said: “We want the fantastic support we had the other night and there’s no reason to think we’re not going to get that. Anything else is a sideshow for us. We don’t want anyone to lose sight of what it is and we don’t want our supporters to lose sight of how important they are vocally to us. We certainly don’t want the players to lose sight – and I don’t think they will – of the competitiveness in the game. We have to compete and do things properly and it’s the same for the supporters. They have been magnificent throughout our history and I am sure they will continue to do that.

“I’m sure there will be banter going back and forth between both sets of fans and as long as it’s respectful then there won’t be a problem. Not only the people who are involved directly the game, but those writing about the game have a responsibility not to run away from what has happened but to act responsibly and not be imagining things that haven’t happened.”

United have an increased ticket allocation of 5,319 for the Cup meeting and Ferguson is confident there will be no problems at Anfield. “As Steven Gerrard was saying, it’s the responsibility of players to behave properly. That’s what I expect my players to do and also the fans,” the United manager said. “Both sets of fans have got to make sure that we end up talking about the game and nothing else. I’m confident we can just concentrate on the football. We’ve been to Anfield already this season and our fans were terrific.”

Dalglish, Ferguson, Gerrard and Liverpool’s managing director, Ian Ayre, have all appealed for calm this week, while the Liverpool manager uses his notes in the match-day programme to ask that the “atmosphere isn’t tarnished in any way.” The two clubs have liaised closely with the Football Association and Merseyside police in recent weeks and Dalglish believes, that with a worldwide audience looking on, the right example will be set.

“We will. The supporters will,” he insisted. “We have got our house in order and I’m sure along the East Lancs Road they will be saying exactly the same thing. The best thing for everybody to be focused on is the football pitch, and that’s where we want people’s attention to be on.

“If something goes off, then it goes off. If it’s bad news, then there is not much anyone else could have done about it. I don’t think either of the two football clubs can be held responsible if it doesn’t go as well as everybody hopes it will do. On previous evidence, the two sets of fans are becoming more respectful for each other. They won’t be sending Christmas cards to each other, but they are becoming more respectful.”

Dalglish is unconcerned about Wednesday’s semi-final taking its toll on Liverpool three days later. “It is better to play than to train,” he said. Ferguson also believes Liverpool’s passage to Wembley could be a factor in the FA Cup. “They’ve got a great lift,” the United manager said. “They were far better than City on the night and but for Joe Hart it could have been quite a big scoreline. Winning is always important.”

United have not won at Anfield in their last four visits, losing three, but Ferguson admits he and his players should thrive on its intimidating atmosphere. He added: “I think the atmosphere for our games at Anfield is terrific. You work all your life to get to a point where you are challenged like that, or your team is challenged like that. We had a good record at Anfield until about two or three years ago. Since then the results have not been great for us, we have not done as well as we used to do, but you would expect that when you have a rivalry between two great clubs.”

LiverpoolKenny DalglishManchester UnitedFA Cup 2011-12FA CupSir Alex FergusonAndy Hunter
guardian.co.uk

• Dutchman wants his first Liverpool trophy in Carling Cup final
• ‘We are more than ready’ for Manchester United in FA Cup

Dirk Kuyt believes Liverpool have a “nearly team” reputation to shed in the Carling Cup final and that they will make it a cup double over Manchester should they repeat their semi-final performance against City when United visit Anfield in the FA Cup on Saturday.

Liverpool reached their first domestic final for six years with their 3-2 aggregate defeat of Manchester City in the Carling Cup on Wednesday, and their first appearance at Wembley since 1996, and will be firm favourites to lift the trophy in Kenny Dalglish’s first full season in charge when they face Cardiff City on 26 February.

Kuyt has yet to win a trophy as a Liverpool player having joined from Feyenoord in the summer of 2006, 12 months after Rafael Benítez’s team had won the FA Cup and the Champions League. With several near misses during his six years at Anfield, the Holland international wants Liverpool to end his trophy drought against the Championship side next month.

“I’ve been here a while now and played in a Champions League final, a Champions League semi-final, a Europa League semi-final and finished second in the Premier League,” said Kuyt. “It’s not enough to be second. Hopefully the Carling Cup can be a first trophy with many more to follow.

“We’ve been a nearly team during my time here but sometimes it’s like that in football. You have to make sure you give everything to reach what you want to reach. We have been very close and sometimes a bit unlucky. But that’s behind us – we can’t change it.

“What we can change is the future and hopefully the trophies will come. It’s great to be in the final but now that we are there we want to win it. It’s important for a club like Liverpool to be back in contention for these trophies. That’s what Liverpool Football Club is about. When I first arrived here nearly six years ago, I came here to win trophies, and that’s the spirit of the players, the spirit of the manager and the spirit of the club.”

Liverpool can remove a major obstacle from their path in the FA Cup on Saturday when Manchester United travel to Anfield for a highly charged fourth-round tie. Kuyt believes a repeat of the performance against City will deliver a victory over the reigning Premier League champions. He said: “The lads are more than ready for the weekend. It will be great to not only knock City out of the Carling Cup but to then knock United out of the FA Cup. We set a benchmark against City. We have to make sure we play with the same effort and I’m sure we will be fine.”

Liverpool have produced their worst performance of the season – Saturday’s 3-1 loss at Bolton – and one of their finest in successive fixtures and, despite Roberto Mancini’s complaints over two penalty decisions that went against City, Kuyt insists their place in the Wembley final cannot be disputed.

The 31-year-old said: “It was a great team performance. We deserved to go through. We deserve to be in the final. It was only because of Joe Hart’s brilliant performance that we didn’t beat City on the night. We were very disappointed for the manager after what happened on Saturday, and for the supporters. But we were even more disappointed for ourselves because we know we can do better.

“So it was great to bounce back. We have to thank the supporters for standing by us and being behind us. From the first whistle, everybody was up for it. This was about playing at Wembley. We are all desperate to challenge for a trophy. It’s a while ago since we won one. It’s great to be in a final, now we hope to finish it off.”

LiverpoolManchester UnitedFA CupCarling CupCarling Cup 2011-12FA Cup 2011-12Andy Hunter
guardian.co.uk

Kenny Dalglish’s expensive summer signings show their worth on an emotional night at Anfield

The senior citizens, the 31-year-old Steve Gerrard and the 32-year-old Craig Bellamy, set the tone of tigerish aggression and scored the goals that saw off Manchester City in this match, taking Liverpool to a Wembley final for the first time since 1996, but Kenny Dalglish could take encouragement from the performance of the newcomers to his squad, who had been singled out for criticism in the wake of a limp defeat at Bolton Wanderers last weekend.

The greater narrative of English football’s leading clubs is beginning to overwhelm its cup competitions. Wednesday night’s match at Anfield was the second leg of a Carling Cup semi-final but its significance was vested almost entirely in the individual performance of two teams who are locked in struggles to sustain or restore their credibility over the whole length of the season, with more substantial ambitions than getting their hands on what must be seen, when all is said and done, as a consolatory bauble.

For Liverpool a night of vintage Anfield passion represented a chance to redeem themselves from Saturday’s humiliation, after which they received a rare public tongue-lashing from their manager. The instinct of Kenny Dalglish to protect his players from external criticism was overridden by the knowledge that they had fallen below the club’s traditional standards of effort and commitment and he was prepared to let the world see his dissatisfaction.

In the privacy of Melwood on Sunday morning he was even fiercer. “He told us as individuals and as a group that it wasn’t acceptable,” Gerrard reported. “He went through all of us. The manager has been critical to our faces.”

The Liverpool captain may have been acting on instructions when he chose to turn the spotlight on the club’s four new signings. “There is no good time to perform like that when you play for this club,” he said. “You have to win every game. The people new to the club will appreciate and understand that a bit more now after a performance like that.”

He was referring to Andy Carroll, bought from Newcastle United a year ago, and to the three summer acquisitions: Jordan Henderson, Stewart Downing and Charlie Adam. A total of £70m invested, with 101 appearances between them this season and only eight goals to show for it. While Carroll was left to contemplate the error of his ways on the bench here on Wednesday night, emerging only for the four minutes of added time, the other three were given an immediate and extended opportunity to redeem themselves.

The 21-year-old Henderson had probably been the least culpable of the lot for the team’s recent failings, unfailingly bright and willing even when heads were dropping around him, although he was the one who stood to suffer most from the long-term absence of the underappreciated Lucas Leiva, from whose experience he could have learnt much. Here he was pushed forward into the middle of the attacking midfield line, just behind Bellamy, while Downing, whose erratic crossing has been a severe disappointment, was stationed on the left, with the intention of exploiting his stronger foot to get the ball into the box.

Adam, who started the season impressively but faded with the return of Gerrard, lined up alongside the captain at the base of midfield and began well, although it was he who should have been closing down Nigel de