KD frustrated by Stoke draw
Kenny Dalglish admitted he was left frustrated by Liverpool's failure to break down a stubborn Stoke City defence following a goalless draw at Anfield on Saturday afternoon.
Despite long spells of pressure in the second half, the Reds could not conjure up a goal and were ultimately forced to settle for a point.
Dalglish told his post-match press conference: "They came here to go away with a point and they got a point. The responsibility was on us to be more imaginative to break them down, but we didn't manage to do that.
"The couple of opportunities we did have we never took, and in a game like that you've got to take your opportunities.
"We looked pretty solid at the back and I think they had one shot in the first half and not much more after that, but as I said it was our responsibility to be able to break them down.
"There was nothing wrong with the players' effort or determination, but on the day we just weren't good enough to break them down."
Dalglish made five changes to the team that faced Manchester City in the Carling Cup in midweek, with Liverpool deploying a three-man central defence against the Potters consisting of Jamie Carragher, Martin Skrtel and Sebastian Coates.
The boss confirmed Daniel Agger was left out of the contest as a precautionary measure, while Jose Enrique was rated as doubtful before the game due to illness.
He said: "The boys at the back looked pretty comfortable, they were only playing against one person. With the personnel we had, we didn't really have much of a choice. We were lucky to get Jose (Enrique) to play because he had a bit of a stomach virus and it was touch and go whether he was going to play.
"We left Daniel Agger out as a precaution because he's got a slight injury. We never had too many options."
Dalglish added: "We will always play with the squad, not just 11 players. We're not in that fortuitous position as when Shanks once said it's the same team in April as it was last August."
Meanwhile, journalists quizzed Dalglish on whether he felt his side should have been awarded a penalty in the second half after substitute Andy Carroll saw appeals waved away.
"In probably every game you go through there are a couple of penalty appeals," the manager replied.
"When they (referees) speak to people in the penalty area, I don't know what they say but obviously it must be about holding people back and then it's not punished - but we probably got away with a couple as well."