KD: We're better than that
Kenny Dalglish admitted Liverpool played badly in their 1-0 friendly defeat to Glasgow Rangers on Tuesday night - but insisted there were mitigating circumstances.
A Lee McCulloch strike in the first half gave Ally McCoist's side the win on a night when 19 players got a run out for Liverpool.
There were still positives to take from the game for those who travelled north of the border, particularly the return from injury of three quality players.
"It was worthwhile in some aspects," said Dalglish. "We've got some boys who haven't played for a while, like Glen Johnson. He got injured before the end of last season, went with England, came back and has never really been fully fit since. For him to get an hour was important.
"For Daniel Agger to get some time after injuring his rib and the same for Fabio Aurelio - it's a useful exercise for some of the boys.
Click on the play button below to watch our post-match chat with the boss
"I haven't seen much of Rangers this season so I don't know if that was them playing well or badly. For us, that was us playing badly. But that's not to take anything away from Rangers.
"I don't think there was food for thought for the Norwich game. It was a disappointing result and we're a lot better than that but I suppose it was in mitigating circumstances because we had people coming back who haven't played too often."
One of Liverpool's standout performers on the night was Alexander Doni but he had to leave the field on 57 minutes with a dislocated finger.
"He's dislocated his finger, though it's been put back in," said the boss. "I don't know how long that takes to recover from but it was good for him, aside from the injury, because he made a couple of decent saves. It was good for him to get a game."
On whether the game proved Rangers could cut it in the Barclays Premier League, Dalglish added: "It's a one-off friendly and I don't think we'll ever see that anyway."