Kenny on Hull and new boys
Kenny Dalglish admitted he was pleased to see a trio of summer signings make their Liverpool debuts against Hull City on Saturday, but could not hide his disappointment following the 3-0 reversal.
Goals from Robbie Brady, Robert Koren and Jay Simpson condemned the Reds to defeat at the KC Stadium on an afternoon in which Alexander Doni, Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing made their first appearances for the club.
Afterwards, Dalglish told LFC TV: "Obviously we're disappointed at losing the game. It doesn't matter whether it was a pre-season friendly or not, but the fact it is pre-season gives us a wee bit of solace.
"We trained yesterday as if it was a game. Everybody ran about nine or 10 thousand metres, which is equivalent to what you do in a game, so it's like playing a game and a half in two days.
"We also travelled over this morning and it's not ideal, but I would have expected a wee bit better than that.
"As I say, it is pre-season and it's to get players fit and get rid of their mistakes - but I certainly think we've got a few mistakes to get rid of after today."
Click the image below to watch Kenny's reaction plus analysis
After a below-par opening 45 minutes, in which Hull raced into a two-goal lead, Dalglish made wholesale changes at half-time, including the introductions of Downing, Henderson and fellow new boy Charlie Adam.
The changes appeared to have the desired impact in the opening exchanges as the Reds applied pressure to the host's goal.
Dalglish said: "In the second half we made a few more chances. I think in the first half we had one shot at goal, which wasn't too compelling to watch. But for us the second half was better.
"We still lost the second half 1-0, but we had three guys making their first appearances in a Liverpool shirt and they will get benefit from that.
"It was an extension of our training sessions this week and starting from now we've got to get ourselves a wee bit more realistic (in terms of fitness)."
Next up for Liverpool is a return to Istanbul to face Galatasaray on Thursday night before Monday's trip to Norway to take on Valerenga.
And Dalglish admits he intends to use those two fixtures as an opportunity to intensify the Reds' preparations for 2011-12.
"The lads are at various degrees of fitness for the matches," he said. "Someone like Jordan (Henderson) has only trained for a week, so it's a bit too much to ask him to start the game.
"But we've got a couple of matches in the space of a few days at the end of next week and we'll make sure as many people as we can get more minutes than they did today.
"If they're going to stake a claim for a first-team place, they've got to earn it. We've given them every opportunity to get themselves fit and try and earn that right to play in the first team, but they'll need to do better than that if they want it."
He added: "On Wednesday we go to Galatasaray, so we'll see what we've got, see if we picked up any injuries or not and take it from there. As I said, we are planning to extend the number of minutes they're playing."
Meanwhile, Dalglish believes the likes of Downing, Henderson, Adam and Doni are settling in well to life on Merseyside - but feels no-one will be travelling back with any satisfaction tonight.
He said: "They're very comfortable. It's an easy place to come and settle, it's very welcoming, but they'll not be too satisfied getting back on the bus after that."
Click the image below to watch Hull City highlights
