Gayle: They play the Liverpool Way
Kenny Dalglish has got his side playing 'the Liverpool Way', according to former striker Howard Gayle.
The Toxteth-born star was speaking from a Show Racism the Red Card event at Anfield yesterday afternoon.
Gayle's shining moment in a red shirt came when he replaced Dalglish and ran Bayern Munich's defenders ragged in a European Cup semi-final second leg in 1981.
And he is confident that tasting Carling Cup success will act as the perfect incentive for this current crop of Liverpool players to achieve further success.
"On the whole, when I compare the way we play with how we've been playing in the past years, I think now Kenny's got the team going forward in the Liverpool Way, especially at home," Gayle told Liverpoolfc.tv.
"This season, collectively, as a group, is about how they gel together and form the basis for the team of the future.
"You've got a squad of players who are now winners. There were a lot of players who were in that team who had been there for a number of years but hadn't achieved a winners' medal and now they have.
"Hopefully what that will do is take us on to the next level of, maybe next season, maintaining a realistic challenge. I don't believe in us aiming for fourth place - we've got to aim for the top."
Gayle knows that in order for that to be achieved, Liverpool must first overcome one of their most unassailable opponents of the season so far - the woodwork.
When Dirk Kuyt's effort struck the frame on Saturday afternoon against Arsenal, it was the 21st time a Liverpool player's shot had done so this campaign.
However, Gayle was encouraged by what he saw at Anfield last Saturday.
"I thought that we were excellent but our nemesis this season has been the woodwork. Against Arsenal Suarez hit it; Kuyt has hit it and missed a penalty. I think some people would say that was most probably the best forty-five minutes of the season against Arsenal."