EPL: Dalglish marks two consecutive losses for Livepool

Goals from Gary Taylor-Fletcher and DJ Campbell helped Blackpool to another sensational 2-1 victory over Liverpool at Bloomfield Road on Wednesday.

Blackpool came from a goal down after Fernando Torres’s early finish to prove their win by the same scoreline at Anfield in October was no fluke as they pulled off one of the most unexpected ‘doubles’ in the history of the Premier League – their first over Liverpool for 47 years.

The Tangerines are now ninth in the table, four places above Liverpool – something that would have been regarded as all but inconceivable at the start of the season.
This was Kenny Dalglish’s first league game in charge of Liverpool for almost 19 years, having seen the Reds lose 1-0 to arch-rivals Manchester United in the FA Cup last weekend, after replacing Roy Hodgson on an interim basis until the end of the season.

“We’ll work away and try to get the confidence we need to produce more positive results,” Dalglish told Sky Sports. “A lot of teams are going to come here and get a really tough game, they’ve done that already.

“It’s a great credit to Ian Holloway they’ve got a team as good as that.”

Holloway, the Blackpool manager, added: “It was a fantastic result, a fantastic game and I thought we more played than our part in it.

“It looked like the Kenny Dalglish effect was going to sweep us away but my boys just keep going.”

Dalglish is looking to salvage something from a Liverpool season that has lurched from disaster to disaster.

One of those low points was the loss to Blackpool at Anfield as the 18-times English champions were humbled by the Premier League newboys.

In the period between that fixture and this, Liverpool have gained new owners but lost a manager in Hodgson and it is former Scotland striker Dalglish’s responsibility to bring an element of calm to a club that has stagnated in recent times.

Despite being without Steven Gerrard and Joe Cole – the former through suspension, the latter through injury – Liverpool started as the better side and took the lead in the third minute through Torres.

Good interplay between Dirk Kuyt and Martin Kelly allowed the right-back to slot the ball through to Torres who charged in on Richard Kingson’s goal and thrashed the ball into the roof of the net.

But Liverpool’s early optimism was extinguished when Blackpool capitalised on some poor defending to equalise nine minutes later.

A Raul Meireles misjudgement and a poor piece of defending from Daniel Agger gave Taylor-Fletcher the space to sneak through Liverpool’s back line and comfortably slide the ball past Pepe Reina.

That should have been the ignition for a thrilling opening encounter but Taylor-Fletcher’s goal was the last real chance on goal during the first half.

Campbell should have nodded Blackpool in front from four yards but somehow missed the target while Liverpool offered very little at the other end in an opening period full of running but precious little quality.

After the interval, Reina had to make two quickfire saves from Charlie Adam and David Vaughan as Blackpool went on the attack while Torres also fired over at the other end.

And with the game firmly in the balance, Blackpool then took the lead in the 69th minute as Campbell made up for his earlier miss with a brilliant header.

A deep Neal Eardley cross was headed back across goal by Ian Evatt and Campbell did the rest to complete the turnaround.

The fraught finish, ensured the final whistle was greeted with sheer joy by the home fans and as Liverpool’s supporters trudged away, they must have realised their club’s current problems are far too large for Dalglish to solve on his own and overnight.