Dalglish Blasts Liverpool for Poor Performance against Fulham

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish is reportedly not only furious with his side's performance but also his decision to leave key players Luis Suarez, Steven Gerrard and Craig Bellamy out of the squad, with an eye on the weekend's FA Cup final tie against Chelsea.

The decision backfired, with a fifth minute own goal from Slovakian centre-back Martin Skrtel settling the game. The win for Fulham meant they are now tied with Liverpool for eighth place in the league.

Despite Dalglish admitting to some of the blame, he did stress he was very disappointed with his side (those who were playing).

"I don't think it can be described as a performance. I'll take part of the blame I suppose because I thought it was fair on everybody to give them some minutes on the pitch, again coming up to Saturday which is important to the club," Dalglish told BBC.

"They had the chance to press their claim but the performance was very poor. That's not like us. For us there was one or two positives but there were a lot more negatives," he added, according to an ESPN report.

The worst part for the Reds is that despite spending a considerable amount of money in bringing players in, they have continued to perform poorly, with the exception of the Carling Cup and the FA Cup, which are arguably less important than the league and the Champions League.

Former Reds midfielder Jan Molby, who saw Liverpool win two FA Cups in his 12-year Anfield career, feels Dalglish will have to spend money on quality players if they are to compete in the league next season. He also added that he felt Liverpool's entire season could regain some sheen, should they win the FA Cup and claim their second piece of silverware.

"I hope that is not going to be the way going forward, I hope we are going to get back to doing very well in the Premier League next season but if we can win two cups this year then it has been an extremely successful season," Molby was quoted by The Daily Mail as saying. The former player said he felt fans would rather their side won trophies than finish in the top four of the league.

"We can talk about the Champions League and World Cup but I think this is the biggest. I have had no better feeling in my career than walking around Wembley after having won the FA Cup, that was the ultimate," he added.