Dalglish was in charge when Liverpool lost the 1988 FA Cup final to Wimbledon at Wembley and he does not want a repeat of that day.

The Liverpool boss told his pre-match press conference:

“Everybody that’s involved with the football club will take great satisfaction (in playing the final), but it’s not a foregone conclusion – and we should not be getting our mindset thinking it is going to be like that.

“We’ll go there and play a team who have achieved every bit as much as we have in getting to the final. We’ll treat them with the utmost respect, as we have done against everybody we’ve played against.

“We’ve got to the final, yes, but it’s not as if there’s no-one there that is going to try and win it. Cardiff have a great expectation and hope to win it as well.

“It’s going to be difficult for us, but the fact we’ve got there is an achievement. Now we are there, we’d obviously rather win the match than lose it!”

Liverpool’s trip to Wembley will be their first since the 1996 FA Cup final, while it’s also the first final the club have contested since 2007.

Dalglish believes this is symptomatic of the great strides forward that have been made at Anfield within the last year – both on and off the pitch.

“We’ll continue to try and progress the club and move it forward,” he said. “We’ve moved on from where we were last year. Progression in the FA Cup, the final of the Carling Cup and four points behind fourth spot – this time last year we were nowhere near that.

“There has been progress made, and off the pitch there has been a great deal of progress made as well in the fantastic support we’ve got from sponsors.”

He added: “They (the fans) are excited. They are looking forward to it – everyone is looking forward to it.

“You can just sense in and around the football club and the city that people are looking forward to it.”

 

But even if the Liverpool striker fulfils his lifelong ambition of scoring at Wembley he won’t celebrate the goal, because it will be against his first football love, Cardiff City.

And even though he has yet to win an English trophy, any celebrations will be seriously curtailed.

“I certainly won’t celebrate. I have no aspirations towards celebrating at all,” said Bellamy. “It will be strange situation as it’s the first time I’ve ever played against them. It’s not something I’m looking forward to doing, to be honest. My father’s a big Cardiff fan and it’s the club I used to go to when I was very young.

“I tried not to celebrate against Manchester City, in the semi-final – I tried to hold myself back. But in the occasion and the moment you get a little bit carried away.”

Bellamy’s first concern is winning a place in the starting line-up, a prospect made that bit easier by his return to full fitness.

“My back spasmed up after I came on against Manchester United and it just got a little bit worse during the week instead of improving,” he said.

“The manager said ‘look, if you need an injection then get it done now because we have a lot of games coming up. It’s such a busy period, so get it sorted just in case.’

“I started training on Thursday, so I’m fine at the moment.”

He is not quite so ­comfortable, though, with the prospect of playing against Cardiff. Yesterday he described his loan spell there as a fulfilment of “one ambition in my life”.

“I set one ambition in my life to play for Cardiff, and I was able to do that. Now, if I’m involved, I’ll be able to play against them in what is a great occasion for this club and an incredible occasion for Cardiff City,” he revealed.

“That makes it a great final. Football is so unpredictable – I didn’t think I would ever be playing a cup final against Cardiff, and now it’s just about to happen.

“And I’m relaxed about it. Honestly. If I win, I win. If I don’t, I don’t. I will not lose one second of sleep over it. Not one.

“I’ve had a great career. Is my career defined by trophies? No. I’m very fortunate to play this game, I’ve achieved more than I set out to achieve.

“I know people might not understand when I say that I’m not a failure if I don’t win trophies. Far from it. I’ve gone in with that attitude over the last few months and it’s amazing I’ve got through to a final straight away. I’m going to carry on that approach.”

“The three of them are fantastic footballers and they played really well today,” said Dalglish. “The more any team gets iconic players like they are on the pitch the better chance they have of being successful. But we have got more than three players. The fact we have done as well as we have and that was the first time the three of them have started a match tells you how well the other boys have done. We will stand and be counted as a squad and I don’t think we have done too badly this year.”

Dalglish confirmed absent duo Craig Bellamy and Daniel Agger should both be fit for Liverpool’s first Wembley appearance since 1996.

This was a terrific Liverpool performance and it started up-front by the big man Andy Carroll. Scored one, laid on one and his presence resulted in two other Liverpool goals. It was by far Carroll’s best performance in a Liverpool shirt. And part of the reason was that Liverpool varied the balls into him. Instead of the big ball down the middle, Downing was knocking balls to the near and far post from the left, and Gerrard knocked in some good crosses also from the right. The varied attack kept the Brighton defense off-balance as they did not know where Carroll was going next.

Before the game I saw a stat that Stewart Downing had the lowest percentage of crosses that turned into goals in the Premier League. It took him a little while to dial in his range today, but his cross for Carroll’s goal was perfect. He hit it early before the defence had to a chance to get organized.

As expected Liverpool bossed the midfield today with Henderson and Gerrard outstanding. Stevie G is still not fully back to his best, but he is getting closer and closer each week.

Luis Suarez got his name on the scoresheet thanks to a great header across goal from Carroll. Noticeably improvement in the way what that Carroll and Suarez played together. Much better interaction between the two.

What did you think of the Liverpool performance?

Liverpool are set to play in their 11th League Cup final against Cardiff City next weekend, while a win against Brighton on Sunday will see them through to the FA Cup last eight.

Dalglish thinks progress in the cups is evidence that Liverpool are on the up. He told Liverpoolfc.tv:

“The players deserve every credit. They’ve had a relatively successful season, they’ve put themselves in a good position.

“This time last year we weren’t in both cup competitions and we weren’t as close as four points off fourth spot. We’re pleased with what we’ve done so far but we want to push on and improve where we are.”

Kenny on Brighton and progress

“The competition has been a bit undermined in recent years, to be perfectly honest,” the boss added. “For us, it’s a pride you take in your football club – if you’re playing a game you want to win it.

“We’ve played a strong team in both cup competitions but we do have a strong squad. Most of the players in the squad have played a significant part in the cup competitions this year. We’ll go out to win the game.”

“We have got a really difficult game coming up on Sunday,” said Dalglish. “We’ve played them already in the League Cup away and we did particularly well on the night to overcome that, but this will be a hard game.

“Although we have the advantage of being at home with fabulous support behind us, we still need to produce the goods on the pitch. Everybody knows what we stand for – we respect the competition and we respect Brighton.

“You can see the form for yourself. They’ve done well. They’re ninth in the league but it’s a really tight league. I think there are only eight points between them and top spot.

“They want to play a bit of football, they like to move the ball about and they got a fantastic result against Newcastle in the previous round.

“It’s going to be hard for us, we might need to be patient and we’ll certainly need to be committed.”

Rodriguez has not played since the fourth round victory over Manchester United almost three weeks ago due to a foot injury. But having received an international call-up from Argentina this week, Maxi is now also back in contention for Liverpool. The winger has started all but two of our cup matches this season.

Dalglish said:

“Maxi is back training. He had a kick on his foot in training but he’s fine now. He’s back in the Argentina squad which is good for him.”

Dalglish has also revealed how teenage full-backs Jon Flanagan and Jack Robinson could come into his thinking when deciding the team to face Gus Poyet’s men.

“Everybody who is fit is in our thinking for Sunday, even Flanno and Jack Robbo,” Dalglish said. “We have had to be careful with Flanno as he has had an injury but he is back in the frame.”

Tickets to this season’s FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium will be up for grabs as The Football Association look to recognise some of the competition’s most passionate fans.

Supporters can put themselves in the frame for tickets to The FA Cup with Budweiser Final on 5 May 2012 by uploading a photo supporting their club to www.TheFA.com/TheFACup/FanPhotos. Your photo might be at your team’s Fifth Round match, down the pub with some friends or even in the armchair at home. The choice is yours. Fans can also enter their photo in the competition by Tweeting it with the #myfacup and #[your team] hastags.

The photo voted the best of each round from now until the Semi Finals will win two tickets to The FA Cup Final, where the best photos will also be shown off on the big screens at Wembley. And anyone can win two tickets to one of the Semi Finals in April by voting for their favourite photo on the Fan Photos tab at www.TheFA.com/TheFACup. Terms and conditions apply, see online for more details.

The FA Cup is a uniquely democratic and historic competition which provides an endless supply of memorable moments and giant-killings each season. It may have already occurred, it may happen this year, or perhaps it’s yet to come – but The FA Cup will guarantee that everyone has their day.

With just 16 teams left in the competition, will this season be your club’s big day at Wembley…?

Visit www.TheFA.com/TheFACup for the chance to have your day in The FA Cup this season.

The most prominent named linked with Suarez this month has been moneybags Paris St Germain. The Daily Mail claims that the French side have targeted the Anfield forward after missing out on other big names.

The influential French newspaper L’Equipe reported that PSG have had contact with Suarez’s advisors and want the Uruguayan to spearhead their assault on the Champions League next season.

Suarez joined Liverpool just a year ago but PSG will have no problem meeting any Liverpool asking price, they are owned by the Qatar Investment Authority, and reports suggest that Suarez could be interested in playing alongside compatriot and friend Diego Lugano.

Lugano is the PSG captain and earlier this week he praised Suarez for his refusal to shake hands with Evra and the defender believes his compatriot has been harshly treated.

“He has gone through a few months that he did not deserve. Everyone in football knows that it is a big circus” said Lugano. “Take into account that England is historically a colonial country and racism is a sensitive subject but we all know it has nothing to do with what happened between Luis and Evra. It’s a football argument and many false moralists and hypocrites have profited. Luis is the only innocent party in this situation. You have to have balls to do what Luis did on Saturday. He followed his principles. We live in a democracy and if you do not want to greet someone, you do not do it. And less so if that person has made you experience some bad moments.”

 

In the four months since Skrtel and Agger have become Kenny Dalglish’s preferred center-half choice and their record speaks for itself.

In 15 league matches they have helped the side keep eight clean sheets, conceding a total of 11 goals – including three apiece at Manchester City and Bolton.

That defensive form has contributed to a record of letting in just 23 goals in 25 league matches, bettered only by leaders City.

“I don’t think I’ve deliberately tried to be more aggressive, as long as it’s the right level of aggression,” he said. “That’s the way I try to do my job. It’s the only way I know to play. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t – at the moment it is. I’m delighted with the way the team had been defending this season. We’ve kept a lot of clean sheets and that gives defenders a lot of confidence. At the moment it’s me and Daniel playing. It’s easy to play with him. He’s a top-quality player and great on the ball. The understanding between us is working. Away from the pitch he’s a nice guy too.

‘We have things in common, such as tattoos and cars – we both have an interest in them and chat about them. I don’t think it’s just with Daniel, I think I have a good understanding with Carra (Carragher) and Seba (summer signing Sebastian Coates) too – they are all top-quality players. It doesn’t matter who starts, I think the manager had four good centre-backs to choose from. Any of us can start a game.”

The last 12 months have been good for Skrtel who looked a player lacking in confidence in the first half of last season.

“I played every league game last season. But, especially during the first half of the season, I didn’t feel as comfortable as I do now,” he told LFC Magazine. “I think when Kenny and Steve Clarke came in a lot of things changed, not just for me but for everyone. I think you can see that on the pitch this season. As a team we have been better. This year I feel more comfortable at the club than ever before.”