Dalglish hails season a success

The Reds have underperformed in the league, with last night's victory over Chelsea only enough to take them eighth with a game to go, but the club have also won the Carling Cup and finished runner-up in the FA Cup -- losing the final to the Blues on Saturday.

Dalglish preferred to accentuate the good things rather than discuss where the side had gone wrong in their previous disappointments at home.

"We've got a bit of silverware back in the cupboard after six years, we're back in Europe at the first time of asking, we were near to winning the FA Cup final. Not a bad first season," he said.

"They (the players) understand better than everyone (the club's expectations) and they're probably more educated than most of those people (critics).

"I think the players will be happy to finish on a high at Anfield. That performance was on a par with a lot of other performances where we've not had the result. Tonight we got that.

"For us it was a satisfying evening. Hopefully the supporters go away feeling very happy. Hopefully the boys have put a wee smile on their faces."

Dalglish was delighted with his side's show, their biggest league win of the season on their last outing of the campaign at Anfield.

"It was an excellent performance," said the Scot.

"It was one which has been seen a few times before here but the result hasn't been as positive as that.

"The pleasing thing is the performance was matched by the result."

Dalglish's side were criticised for their lacklustre first hour in the FA Cup final at Wembley but the Reds boss insisted he had no regrets about that or about their displays as a whole -- particularly at home -- this season.

FEELING

"There's not a feeling of 'What if?'. It's a feeling of 'What a result. What a performance'," he said.

"The last half-hour at Wembley and that performance there was a fantastic two hours of football.

"Everyone played their part. The two young boys in the middle of the pitch -- Jordan Henderson and Jonjo Shelvey -- were magnificent, big Andy (Carroll) was unplayable.

"Luis was fantastic for the (opening) goal but everyone played their part and the old boy at the back (Jamie Carragher) didn't do too badly."