KD on Craig, Chelsea and Seb
Kenny Dalglish hailed the 'brilliant' performance of his Liverpool players after they booked their place in the last four of the Carling Cup with a 2-0 success at Chelsea.
Goals from Maxi Rodriguez and Martin Kelly did the damage for the Reds after the Scot made seven changes to the team that drew 1-1 at home to Manchester City just 48 hours earlier.
The boss admitted he was delighted with the efforts of the players who came into the line-up and felt they got their just rewards for their endeavours.
Dalglish told his post-match press conference: "I don't know if we took them apart, but we were delighted with the way we played. We made changes and most of the lads who played have played in the earlier rounds of the cup, so for us it was right they played again. They were brilliant the way they went about their work.
"Jose (Enrique) played 48 hours ago, Jordan (Henderson) played and Lucas played and the way they went about their job playing in their second game as quickly as they did was fantastic.
"We've had a good day and I think we deserved to go through."
Craig Bellamy cut an emotional figure during the pre-match tributes to Gary Speed and responded with two assists in a fine overall showing.
"We know he is a fantastic footballer," said Dalglish. "He had a hugely disappointing day on Sunday. Speedy, who he regarded as a mentor, passed away.
"For any of the players who have been a friend of his who played over the weekend or tonight elsewhere, speaks volumes for them because he was very well liked and very well respected. For the wee man, it's great for him."
The victory means Liverpool have reached their first League Cup semi-final since 2005.
However, Dalglish feels the manner of his team's improvement in recent weeks is what matters most.
He said: "The way we are progressing is more significant than reaching the semi-final of the cup, but that doesn't mean to say we wouldn't love to win it. We'll just brush ourselves down, we've got our reward and we'll look forward to the next round."
The Reds could have taken the lead as early as the 22nd minute when Andy Carroll missed from the spot after Alex was penalised for a handball.
Referee Phil Dowd eventually awarded the kick after huge appeals but Dalglish revealed he had no view of the incident at the time.
He said: "I didn't see what happened with the penalty, which is unusual when it's a penalty for you, it's usually when it's against you that you don't see it!
"The boys were emphatic - he's gone up and punched it. Maybe if we hadn't got that one, we would have got the other one when Andy was pushed, but we've got to the semi-final of the Cup and we'll take what we've got. The referee is exactly the same as us - he gets some right and some wrong."
Asked about the impressive display of Sebastian Coates, Dalglish added: "We've been delighted with the attitude of every single player. All of them were brilliant. Seb stood up to the plate. Even the penalty miss, Andy was brilliant for us. He really formed part of the team and worked for the team. He was fantastic."
Quizzed as to why his team seem to excel on their travels, the boss said: "I don't think we've played badly at Anfield either. Only Swansea where we've not reached the heights of what we reached in every other game. Every other game at Anfield we could have won. We haven't done it because of inspired goalkeeping against us. Whatever the fixture, we'll do our best to win it."
Dalglish was also keen to pay tribute to the travelling Kop, who were once again in full voice at Stamford Bridge.
He said: "The supporters have always have been and always will be an integral part of us. Everything you see on the pitch reflects how they feel.
"For us, they will never ever be taken for granted. They always will be an integral part of anything we do or try to do. As long as everybody is as one unit then the club as a whole has a good chance. Once you start getting divisions in football clubs, you start getting problems - we haven't got that."