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Season climax excites Ferguson


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Updated Apr 30, 2011 10:57 PM ET
Sir Alex Ferguson claims this is the part of the season Manchester United love most as the Red Devils close in on silverware.
Ferguson famously termed the tense final few weeks "squeaky bum time," but it is others who appear to suffer most.
This season Arsenal have been the ones to crumble, with Chelsea now hoping United suffer similar woes to the Gunners, specifically losing at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday which would mean Carlo Ancelotti's side can exert real pressure when they go to Old Trafford next weekend.

Wed., Apr. 27​
Fulham 3-0 Bolton | Recap
Sat., Apr. 30​
Blackburn 1-0 Bolton | Recap
Blackpool 0-0 Stoke City | Recap
Sunderland 0-3 Fulham | Recap
West Brom 2-1 Aston Villa | Recap
Wigan 1-1 Everton | Recap
Chelsea 2-1 Tottenham | Recap
Sun., May 1​
Birmingham vs. Wolves
Liverpool vs. Newcastle
Arsenal vs. Man Utd
Man City vs. West Ham
BPL Scores | Table | Fixtures​


However, history does not suggest Ancelotti's optimism will be rewarded.
It is seven years since United failed to collect seven points from their last four Premier League games, the number which would confirm them as champions for a record 19th time.
"We have always done well in the springtime," Ferguson said. "We look forward to these games. At the start of the season players have the opportunity to be where we are now.
"These run-ins are hard, but the more experience you get the better you can handle that and we have done all right in the past."
Given they are virtually assured of a place in next month's Champions League final, if United do win the league as well, they will answer a number of critics who feel the Red Devils are not a patch on Ferguson's sides of old.
Ferguson has never believed that to be the case, even if he is not that interested in delivering a 'Told you so' reply.
"I don't really concern myself with things like that," he said. "Some criticism of our away form was justified, but at Old Trafford it has been magnificent.
"We have had some great performances at home and scored the most goals in the league, so overall the criticism wasn't very well founded."
With Darren Fletcher expected to play some part in Wednesday's Champions League return with Schalke and Dimitar Berbatov recovering from a groin strain and available for Sunday, Ferguson is selecting from strength ahead of what he still feels will be an unpredictable run-in.
"There is still drama ahead," he said. "The teams at the top will drop points, including Chelsea. Two months ago everyone was looking at these two games as league deciders. They probably are now.
"But if we get to the last home game needing to win it to win the league, I would be happy with that."
 
Kenny Dalglish is showing at Liverpool he was never a busted flush

Nearly 13 years after his sacking from Newcastle, Dalglish hosts his former club having restored Anfield's old values



  • Kenny-Dalglish-the-Liverp-007.jpg
    Kenny Dalglish, the Liverpool manager, during a practice session at Melwood training ground. Photograph: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

    Tyneside is the place where Kenny Dalglish was meant to have reached his end, grown old overnight, fallen off the edge of the game. So when Newcastle United motor to Anfield on Sunday Gateshead's Andy Carroll will not be the only one stirred to reminiscence by the sight of the barcode shirt.
    Dalglish's reign as Newcastle manager ended as many did under Freddy Shepherd: early in a new campaign, before the children had made it back to school. Shepherd's latest victim had finished 13th in the previous Premier League season but guided Newcastle to an FA Cup final and inspired the side to a 3-2 Champions League win over Barcelona. But big Freddy did what any chairman would do with the club in a supposedly dystopian condition: he hired Ruud Gullit.
    Looking back, it seems obvious that Dalglish's first phase in management ended artificially. A messy year at Celtic provided obituary writers with an extra chunk of evidence to support the notion that history had passed him by. For all the hundreds of sackings we have witnessed down the years, there has yet to be a proper examination of the idea that a manager starts out good and then slides inexorably to the point of bad.
    Dalglish was never yesterday's man. It was more that the clock stopped arbitrarily after Newcastle and Celtic, leaving him to wander the highways. Salvation arrived when Rafa Benítez asked the Liverpool board to bring him back as an ambassador for the club's academy. This, plus an overhaul of the youth system, turns out to have been Benítez's most enduring legacy.
    Liverpool have taken 27 points from 14 games and are behind only Manchester United and Chelsea in the form league. They have purged an unhappy camper (Fernando Torres) and spent the money on a No7 with flashes of Dalglish's brilliance (Luis Suárez) and a Geordie centre-forward who invites comparisons with another signed by Dalglish in his title-winning spell at Blackburn Rovers.
    Carroll has a long way to go to earn parity with Alan Shearer but his arrival in January served two purposes. It showed Liverpool to be a club capable of throwing a net over England's best young striker and shifted the rebuilding emphasis to youth. After two long phases of experimentation with continental methods there could be no more cultural revolutions. Instead Dalglish set about restoring Liverpudlian values that were already there. He started in early January with a 1-0 FA Cup defeat at Manchester United, lost his next match at Blackpool, and oversaw a 2-2 draw with Everton. Then the team took flight, winning 3-0 at Wolves, beating Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, defeating United 3-1 at Anfield, seeing off Man City 3-0 at home and drawing with Arsenal in London before belting Birmingham City 5-0.
    A couple of days after that rousing win – which even featured a Joe Cole goal – Brian Reade's book An Epic Swindle: 44 Months with a Pair of Cowboys came through the letterbox like a hot brick of indignation. Reade's fulmination recounts the Tom Hicks‑George Gillett years, which ended in court in October, shortly after Liverpool lost to Blackpool and half the Kop stayed behind to demand the removal of the Tom and Jerry of Premier League ownership.
    As New England Sports Ventures (now Fenway Sports Group) took over, and Roy Hodgson gave way to Dalglish, the earliest sense was of a club that would need to limp their way to summer and then call some kind of summit to look at their raison d'être. Dalglish was cast in caretaking mode: the old legend helping out, even though he wanted the job permanently. But then a loss produced a spectacular gain. The Torres sale transformed Dalglish from watchman to instant rebuilder as the team and staff returned to the club's deep well of memory.
    Dalglish has long since passed the point where awarding him a long-term contract would be sensible. But John W Henry and his cohorts have played some kind of hardball, preferring to judge the manager on term-end results.
    If Liverpool win all four remaining games they will finish with one more point than they amassed last May, at the end of the Benítez era. More pertinently, Dalglish has let loose a squadron of homegrown talent. The full-backs Jack Robinson and John Flanagan are backed up by Suso, Raheem Sterling, Conor Coady and Andre Wisdom. Jay Spearing and Martin Kelly had already shown the way.
    Newcastle have worked their way through nine managers in the 13 years since Dalglish left, handing P45s to Sir Bobby Robson, Graeme Souness, Sam Allardyce, Kevin Keegan, Chris Hughton and Shearer, so Liverpool's leader is in good company.
    In this chaotic universe the manager is at the mercy of random events, of shallow boardroom judgments, yet Dalglish has returned to reconnect with all the buried virtues that made Liverpool great in the first place, at a club where the New York Times, oddly, now holds a major share, as stakeholders in the parent company.
    Hold the back page: Dalglish was never a busted flush.
    Public show they love Olympic eventing

    The most oversubscribed activity at next year's London Olympics is one where there will be no sport, only waving and grinning by teams in blazers, lots of fireworks and probably an incomprehensibly symbolic pageant featuring Stonehenge and London buses.
    The 2012 opening ceremony, for which tickets range from £20.12 to £2,012, was the most popular choice when ticket sales closed last week and was more than 10 times oversubscribed. This tends to suggest the British have adopted the American mentality of turning out for an "event" regardless of its merit.
    We all love an East End show. Faced with a choice between taekwondo, handball or watching David Beckham ride round the Stratford stadium on top of a black cab, many opted for a sight of the boy from Leytonstone. One hopes the British public will also cultivate an interest in the more obscure Olympic sports – or at least clap in the right places.

 
Kenny Dalglish is showing at Liverpool he was never a busted flush

Nearly 13 years after his sacking from Newcastle, Dalglish hosts his former club having restored Anfield's old values



  • Kenny-Dalglish-the-Liverp-007.jpg
    Kenny Dalglish, the Liverpool manager, during a practice session at Melwood training ground. Photograph: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

    Tyneside is the place where Kenny Dalglish was meant to have reached his end, grown old overnight, fallen off the edge of the game. So when Newcastle United motor to Anfield on Sunday Gateshead's Andy Carroll will not be the only one stirred to reminiscence by the sight of the barcode shirt.
    Dalglish's reign as Newcastle manager ended as many did under Freddy Shepherd: early in a new campaign, before the children had made it back to school. Shepherd's latest victim had finished 13th in the previous Premier League season but guided Newcastle to an FA Cup final and inspired the side to a 3-2 Champions League win over Barcelona. But big Freddy did what any chairman would do with the club in a supposedly dystopian condition: he hired Ruud Gullit.
    Looking back, it seems obvious that Dalglish's first phase in management ended artificially. A messy year at Celtic provided obituary writers with an extra chunk of evidence to support the notion that history had passed him by. For all the hundreds of sackings we have witnessed down the years, there has yet to be a proper examination of the idea that a manager starts out good and then slides inexorably to the point of bad.
    Dalglish was never yesterday's man. It was more that the clock stopped arbitrarily after Newcastle and Celtic, leaving him to wander the highways. Salvation arrived when Rafa Benítez asked the Liverpool board to bring him back as an ambassador for the club's academy. This, plus an overhaul of the youth system, turns out to have been Benítez's most enduring legacy.
    Liverpool have taken 27 points from 14 games and are behind only Manchester United and Chelsea in the form league. They have purged an unhappy camper (Fernando Torres) and spent the money on a No7 with flashes of Dalglish's brilliance (Luis Suárez) and a Geordie centre-forward who invites comparisons with another signed by Dalglish in his title-winning spell at Blackburn Rovers.
    Carroll has a long way to go to earn parity with Alan Shearer but his arrival in January served two purposes. It showed Liverpool to be a club capable of throwing a net over England's best young striker and shifted the rebuilding emphasis to youth. After two long phases of experimentation with continental methods there could be no more cultural revolutions. Instead Dalglish set about restoring Liverpudlian values that were already there. He started in early January with a 1-0 FA Cup defeat at Manchester United, lost his next match at Blackpool, and oversaw a 2-2 draw with Everton. Then the team took flight, winning 3-0 at Wolves, beating Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, defeating United 3-1 at Anfield, seeing off Man City 3-0 at home and drawing with Arsenal in London before belting Birmingham City 5-0.
    A couple of days after that rousing win – which even featured a Joe Cole goal – Brian Reade's book An Epic Swindle: 44 Months with a Pair of Cowboys came through the letterbox like a hot brick of indignation. Reade's fulmination recounts the Tom Hicks‑George Gillett years, which ended in court in October, shortly after Liverpool lost to Blackpool and half the Kop stayed behind to demand the removal of the Tom and Jerry of Premier League ownership.
    As New England Sports Ventures (now Fenway Sports Group) took over, and Roy Hodgson gave way to Dalglish, the earliest sense was of a club that would need to limp their way to summer and then call some kind of summit to look at their raison d'être. Dalglish was cast in caretaking mode: the old legend helping out, even though he wanted the job permanently. But then a loss produced a spectacular gain. The Torres sale transformed Dalglish from watchman to instant rebuilder as the team and staff returned to the club's deep well of memory.
    Dalglish has long since passed the point where awarding him a long-term contract would be sensible. But John W Henry and his cohorts have played some kind of hardball, preferring to judge the manager on term-end results.
    If Liverpool win all four remaining games they will finish with one more point than they amassed last May, at the end of the Benítez era. More pertinently, Dalglish has let loose a squadron of homegrown talent. The full-backs Jack Robinson and John Flanagan are backed up by Suso, Raheem Sterling, Conor Coady and Andre Wisdom. Jay Spearing and Martin Kelly had already shown the way.
    Newcastle have worked their way through nine managers in the 13 years since Dalglish left, handing P45s to Sir Bobby Robson, Graeme Souness, Sam Allardyce, Kevin Keegan, Chris Hughton and Shearer, so Liverpool's leader is in good company.
    In this chaotic universe the manager is at the mercy of random events, of shallow boardroom judgments, yet Dalglish has returned to reconnect with all the buried virtues that made Liverpool great in the first place, at a club where the New York Times, oddly, now holds a major share, as stakeholders in the parent company.
    Hold the back page: Dalglish was never a busted flush.
    Public show they love Olympic eventing

    The most oversubscribed activity at next year's London Olympics is one where there will be no sport, only waving and grinning by teams in blazers, lots of fireworks and probably an incomprehensibly symbolic pageant featuring Stonehenge and London buses.
    The 2012 opening ceremony, for which tickets range from £20.12 to £2,012, was the most popular choice when ticket sales closed last week and was more than 10 times oversubscribed. This tends to suggest the British have adopted the American mentality of turning out for an "event" regardless of its merit.
    We all love an East End show. Faced with a choice between taekwondo, handball or watching David Beckham ride round the Stratford stadium on top of a black cab, many opted for a sight of the boy from Leytonstone. One hopes the British public will also cultivate an interest in the more obscure Olympic sports – or at least clap in the right places.

 
Barcelona (2) v Real Madrid (0), Champions League semi-final second leg, 7.45pm Tuesday 3 May

Barcelona's Lionel Messi powers into the pantheon of greats

Mention of Messi alongside Pelé, Maradona and Cruyff is starting to feel obligatory rather than merely tempting



  • Lionel-Messi-Barcelona-007.jpg
    Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring Barcelona's first goal during Wednesday's 2-0 victory over Real Madrid. Photograph: Alex Livesey/Getty Images

    The redemptive act in a sometimes craven match was dream-like. Both sides surrendered to its power. Re-examine Lionel Messi's second goal against Real Madrid in Wednesday's Champions League semi-final first leg and you will see José Mourinho's defenders reduced to helplessness and awe.
    On the evidence of the preceding 87 minutes, Messi should have been strong-armed, tripped, jostled or gang-tackled. Instead, when Sergio Busquets placed his sole on the ball and held it for Messi to collect, like a courtier keeping an item safe for a monarch, Real's Lassana Diarra reacted to the threat by raising his hands, as if to say: "I must not interfere with what is about to happen."
    Messi ran straight, in the direction of the D on the edge of the penalty area, then darted right, which left Raúl Albiol falling backwards, his legs tangled. Then the Pulga Atómica (Atomic Flea) ran behind Marcelo, who was similarly flummoxed, before Sergio Ramos rushed over to try to stop the shot and ended up tumbling comically towards the hoardings.
    The real measure of Messi's brilliance, then, was not the run so much as the discombobulation, psychological and physical, of those employed to stop it. In the replay you sense not only confusion on the Real side but a kind of deference. With Pepe already dismissed, no Real player wanted to risk reducing the side to nine men with the score still 1-0 to Barcelona. Yet there was also a recognition that Messi is unplayable in those phases – and so brilliant generally that even the finest opponents are forced to confront their mortality.
    Without this solo flourish, Real would have travelled to Catalonia on Tuesday only 1-0 down and with a chance of making it through to the final at Wembley on 28 May. Instead, the spectre of Messi again, this time on his home turf, is inescapable.
    Before the tie Pep Guardiola, the Barcelona coach, had entertained the media crowd with a melodramatic acknowledgement that in Spain's capital Mourinho was "the man" (expletive deleted). When the cannon smoke finally cleared the next day the country's papers took their cue. Both El Mundo Deportivo and Sport described Messi as "el puto amo" on their front page, or "the ****ing man". Barcelona's website opted for a more child-friendly translation: "Messi is the bloody boss."
    Satisfyingly, the outrageous talent of the world's best footballer was the salvation in a game that displayed the sport as a branch of acting, and of politics. For an instant it restored more than a hundred years of tradition (top players, trying to do great things) to its rightful place, above the machinations of coaches and thespians.
    To imbue a goal with such quasi-religious significance may seem ludicrous, but we are at the point with Messi where admiration is universal (even in the Madrid defence), and mention of him alongside Pelé, Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff is starting to feel obligatory rather than merely tempting. This season he has scored 52 times in 50 club outings. His 50th last weekend broke Ferenc Puskas's Spanish record of 49 from 1959-60. With 179 in seven campaigns at the Camp Nou, Messi is already closing in, at 23 years old, on César Rodríguez's all-time Barcelona record of 235.
    Arsène Wenger, who is among Messi's victims, says the Pelé-Maradona echoes are authentic. "He is that good," the Arsenal manager says. "I have not seen all the football players, but for me he has qualities that are mental: humility, desire to play, happiness to help the team, always desire; you never see any bad reaction despite all the kicks he gets.
    "When you look at the numbers, you have to kneel down and say they are fantastic. When a guy scores 52 goals in modern football and has 25 assists, when you see how difficult it is to score a goal, you just have to say it is absolutely exceptional what this player is delivering."
    The old guard's defence against the premature elevation of gifted pups is that World Cups are the true stage for the sizing up of greatness, but that argument weakens with every year, and not just because Fifa has devalued the tournament Pelé and Maradona graced by flogging it to Qatar.
    "He's still only 22 and you have to maintain this level for many years to earn the right to be considered better than these giants," Ossie Ardiles, a Maradona contemporary, said last year. And that point still holds, because Pelé and Maradona played for 21 seasons and Cruyff appeared in 20. With the Champions League, though, Messi is playing a mini-World Cup each year, combining rampant form in La Liga with consistent virtuosity against star-packed clubs from other countries in European competition.
    If anyone has blocked his path to glory in the international arena it has been – of all people – Maradona, who squandered Argentina's rich resources in South Africa. Messi should have at least two more chances to add World Cup lustre to his club cv, which already features four Liga titles, two Champions League crowns and a pair of world footballer of the years awards.
    His first goal in Madrid was a striker's finish, close in, from a low cross; the second brought to mind a remark by Thierry Henry from his Barcelona days. "Like any great player he's a fighter, he can't lose."
    Henry said: "During training sessions if his team is losing 2-1, he gets the ball, dribbles round everyone and scores, and we start again from scratch."
    The player who can elect to change or kill a game, knowing his feet are packed with the talent to execute any move – cause any sort of damage, at any moment – is playing another sport to the mass of men who lack that capability. This is extrapolation, naturally, but when Busquets stopped the ball, like a servant, and Messi's little legs quickened to take possession it was as if he had seen enough of the ugliness in the game. Or maybe he had just had enough of Real Madrid. By any definition, that is power.

 
Harry: Striker is Spurs priority


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Updated Apr 30, 2011 7:30 AM ET
Harry Redknapp will scour the globe this summer looking for a new striker after admitting Tottenham's frontmen have let him down this season.
Spurs may have enjoyed dismantling the likes of Inter Milan and AC Milan in the Champions League this year, but the dream of taking on Europe's best again next year is fading thanks to a recent poor run of form.

Wed., Apr. 27​
Fulham 3-0 Bolton | Recap
Sat., Apr. 30​
Blackburn 1-0 Bolton | Recap
Blackpool 0-0 Stoke City | Recap
Sunderland 0-3 Fulham | Recap
West Brom 2-1 Aston Villa | Recap
Wigan 1-1 Everton | Recap
Chelsea 2-1 Tottenham | Recap
Sun., May 1​
Birmingham vs. Wolves
Liverpool vs. Newcastle
Arsenal vs. Man Utd
Man City vs. West Ham
BPL Scores | Table | Fixtures​


Defeat at Chelsea on Saturday and a victory for Manchester City over West Ham will leave the club seven points off fourth with four matches remaining.
The prolific form of Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko was key to the Londoners' successful attempt to beat City to fourth last year, but they have floundered in front of goal this term.
The trio chalked up 31 league strikes last year, but have managed just 15 between them this season, with Gareth Bale and Rafael van der Vaart being the main source of goals this time around.
Redknapp's squad scored 67 league goals last year, but have managed 49 this term - only six more than Manchester United have bagged at Old Trafford alone.
The Spurs boss concedes that is not good enough and will be looking to bring in a striker this summer as a result.
"It's been one of those years," Redknapp said. "Normally Defoe would have had 18 goals by now. He hasn't got them this year, Crouchy hasn't scored many, he's scored his goals in Europe. We're still in it without the frontmen having scored the goals they should have done."
Redknapp sought to remedy his side's goalscoring problems with club-record bids for Diego Forlan, Giuseppe Rossi and Sergio Aguero in January, but none of the trio arrived, thanks mainly due to their wage demands.
Redknapp admits that hurdle could be hard to overcome once the transfer window opens, but he is still committed to signing a proven striker who can guarantee him 15-20 goals a season.
"I'd like to get another front man if I can," Redknapp said.
"They're difficult to find though. We went for Rossi last year and he was suddenly £35million.
"We're looking for strikers, not £35million ones, they're hard to find because everyone's looking for them.
"It would be up to the chairman (in terms of the cost). But we've been chasing all around the world, looking for people. They all cost big money."
Forlan recently suggested he would be ready to quit Atletico Madrid but Redknapp said there is little chance of the club going back for the former Manchester United marksman.
"We can't afford him. He's on about £120k a week or something," Redknapp said.
"If you work it out on a two or three-year contract, you're talking about £28million and there's no return on your money."
Redknapp hopes to partly fund a move for a striker by getting rid of the deadwood in his squad.
Jamie O'Hara, Robbie Keane, David Bentley and Giovani dos Santos are all out on loan and the Spurs boss believes a smaller squad will make his team better-equipped for a serious tilt at the top four.
Serious repercussions could follow if Spurs finish fifth. They will experience a drop in revenue, attracting the continent's biggest names will prove harder, and a gruelling schedule of extra games will make the season long and hard.
Redknapp admits he will have to reluctantly accept playing in the Europa League if they fail to make fourth.
"We've got to try to finish fifth if we don't finish fourth," Redknapp said.
"The Europa League is one of those competitions that teams get in and they try and get out of.
"The English teams all seem to play the reserve teams in it.
"I remember going to West Ham a few years ago and watching Palermo play and they were fantastic. They beat West Ham that night and I came back and told a few friends 'They'll win this competition'.
"They played at home the following week and made 11 changes and they got beat at home, that's how the competition seems to be.
"It's a million miles away from the Champions League."
Redknapp will be without Tom Huddlestone for Saturday's game at Stamford Bridge after the ankle injury that ruled him out for five months earlier this season flared up again.
 
Kenny makes case for the defence


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Updated Apr 30, 2011 7:22 AM ET
Kenny Dalglish has seen his Liverpool side score nine goals in their last three matches but clean sheets still give him as much satisfaction.
The late penalty in the 1-1 at Arsenal two weeks ago was the only goal the Reds have conceded in that spell as their attacking play has done much to limit chances at the other end.
However, goalkeeper Jose Reina has had the odd moment when he has had to show his class and Dalglish is pleased to see the Spain international keeping the opposition out.

Wed., Apr. 27​
Fulham 3-0 Bolton | Recap
Sat., Apr. 30​
Blackburn 1-0 Bolton | Recap
Blackpool 0-0 Stoke City | Recap
Sunderland 0-3 Fulham | Recap
West Brom 2-1 Aston Villa | Recap
Wigan 1-1 Everton | Recap
Chelsea 2-1 Tottenham | Recap
Sun., May 1​
Birmingham vs. Wolves
Liverpool vs. Newcastle
Arsenal vs. Man Utd
Man City vs. West Ham
BPL Scores | Table | Fixtures​


"It is important for us that we don't lose goals at the back," said the Reds boss.
"It is important for Pepe (Reina), who has been fantastic in the last few months or so.
"He has really commanded his area; he wasn't as busy in the 5-0 win over Birmingham as he has been in other games but he was very confident and that helps us.
"For us, from the goalkeeping position through the team there are positives there for everyone."
In an interview with Spanish radio this week Reina gave the broadest hint yet that he was prepared to stay at the club beyond the end of the season after much speculation he could follow compatriot Fernando Torres out of Anfield.
As far as Dalglish is concerned it is not an issue for him, as he had not spoken to the Spaniard about him leaving
The 60-year-old Scot, still awaiting confirmation of his permanent appointment, is more concerned with moving the team forward.
He has been impressed by the progress they have made since he took over in January and is keen to maintain that to the end of the season and beyond.
"I never had any preconceived idea of about how quickly they were going to adapt so I couldn't say I was surprised because I never had any thought in my mind as to how long it would take," he said.
"I don't know what the training was like before because I wasn't here and so I cannot quantify the changes other than the personnel.
"I just know what we have tried to do since we came in and we have done it very well.
"What's pleased me most is the way the players have gone about training and thrown themselves into it, got behind what we are trying to do, and the support they have given the backroom staff.
"The reward they have had for the hard work they have done is there for all to see and that encourages them.
"On the whole we can be very happy with what they have returned.
"You see things that happen in training happen on the pitch but I don't know if that is progress or not.
"It is, however, an indication of how the players have done and how they have adapted to the change and the efforts they have put in.
"What they have had they have thoroughly deserved and if they continue doing what they are doing I am sure they will get more rewards."
Dalglish is unbeaten at Anfield in nine matches since returning as manager and he will look to extend that run against Newcastle on Sunday.
Former Magpies striker Andy Carroll will undergo a late fitness test to see if he has recovered from the knee injury which forced him to miss last week's 5-0 win over Birmingham.
 
Atletico offer De Gea new deal


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Updated Apr 30, 2011 11:07 AM ET
Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo has confirmed the club have offered Manchester United goalkeeping target David de Gea a new deal.

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United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is believed to have lined up a move for 20-year-old De Gea as he seeks a replacement for veteran Edwin van der Sar, who is retiring at the end of the season.
Atletico have continually played down suggestions that a deal has been agreed with United and now they have offered the keeper a new improved contract to try and keep him at Vicente Calderon.
"De Gea is a magnificent player in the squad and has two years left on his contract. We [have] made a renewal offer," Cerezo told Europa Press.
"But it does not depend on us. We will speak to him at the end of term and see what happens."
 


Toffees warn Reds off Baines


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Updated Apr 30, 2011 1:23 PM ET
Everton boss David Moyes has told rivals Liverpool that they have no chance of taking Leighton Baines across Stanley Park this summer.

Wed., Apr. 27​
Fulham 3-0 Bolton | Recap
Sat., Apr. 30​
Blackburn 1-0 Bolton | Recap
Blackpool 0-0 Stoke City | Recap
Sunderland 0-3 Fulham | Recap
West Brom 2-1 Aston Villa | Recap
Wigan 1-1 Everton | Recap
Chelsea 2-1 Tottenham | Recap
Sun., May 1​
Birmingham vs. Wolves
Liverpool vs. Newcastle
Arsenal vs. Man Utd
Man City vs. West Ham
BPL Scores | Table | Fixtures​


The £10million full-back has been linked with the likes of Manchester City and Bayern Munich following his emergence as one of the best players in his role in Europe.
Liverpool, who have signed Nick Barmby and Abel Xavier from Everton this Millennium, have also been linked with Baines as they bid to fill a problem position at left-back.
But ahead of Saturday's game at the 26-year-old England international's former club, Wigan, Moyes has warned Liverpool that he has no plans to sell one of his star assets.
The Everton boss said in the Liverpool Echo: "I can't see it. It's not for me that one and I think Liverpool know that as well.
"Nobody will leave the club unless I give it the go-ahead and that won't change.
"We have signed Leighton on a five-year deal. I don't want to sell him and Everton don't sell cheap.
"The chairman looks after the players and gives them what he can. So Leighton's not for sale - and they know that as well."
 
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