Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish admits he is delighted by the return of captain Steven Gerrard from a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
The England international played 20 minutes in Liverpool’s disappointing draw with Blackburn, thus returning to the side after two months.
“It’s fantastic that he’s got back and he looks a lot stronger and a lot fitter now than he was in years gone by I think,” Dalglish was quoted as saying.
“But he needs some time on the pitch now to get him back to full fitness.”
Even if Dalglish was clearly unhappy with the result, he was generally satisfied with his team’s performance.
“The difficulty was who to take off because it wasn’t as if we were playing poorly. Usually if there is a bit of a struggle you can see you have two or three options but there wasn’t anyone who deserved to come off.
“But we had to do something to try to win the game. I made two substitutions – Steven and Craig Bellamy to try to win it – and with a bit of good fortune we probably would have.”
Gerrard’s return comes as a welcoming boost before the hectic schedule, with Liverpool set to play no less than eight games over the next 30 days.
Despite the home draw with Blackburn, the Reds are just three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea and they are 4.00 (3/1) with Stan James to achieve a top 4 finish.
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