Kenny Dalglish laments 'one of those days' after West Brom defeat

 
23 April 2012

Manager Kenny Dalglish admits he has repeated himself too many times when discussing Liverpool's inability to convert their chances but is convinced they are only missing a stroke of good fortune.

The Reds had 28 shots, 12 of which were on target, and won 15 corners at home to West Brom but the vital statistic belonged to Peter Odemwingie.

He scored the only goal of the game to give Roy Hodgson a satisfying first return to the club who sacked him in January last year.

"It's not just been one of those days; it's been like that seven or eight times here," said Dalglish, whose side have dropped an astounding 27 points at home this season.

"There's not much else that we can add to what we've said before so many times after a game at Anfield.

"I think you could go back over the old interviews and it'll be the same thing.

"They just need a bit of luck I think. It sounds repetitive but it's not an excuse.

"We're not running away from something. It's not as if there's something drastically wrong that we can't identify.

"It is just a piece of good fortune that we need."

Liverpool should have been out of sight before Odemwingie's 75th-minute strike after a defensive error by Glen Johnson had gifted the ball to Youssouf Mulumbu to set up his team-mate.

Jordan Henderson and Dirk Kuyt were both denied by the woodwork early in the second half, Maxi Rodriguez had appeals for a first-half penalty denied, and Baggies goalkeeper Ben Foster made a number of saves with Jonas Olsson also blocking a certain goal from Andy Carroll.

Carroll, Luis Suarez, Daniel Agger and Kuyt all had chances to break the deadlock but their failure left the door open for West Brom to register their first win at Anfield 45 years to the day since their last.

"The woodwork, again, wasn't our best friend," added Dalglish, who left Steven Gerrard out of the squad in order to protect his captain who had a minor hamstring niggle.

"The players showed great resolve in the way they went about their work and because of that they made a lot of chances on goal but they just couldn't get a break."

At the time of his post-match press conference Dalglish had not seen the penalty incident but accepted they could not rely on refereeing decisions to mask their inadequacies up front.

"We can't dictate what decisions we get for and against us," he said.

"We've just got to try to keep doing what we're doing right and they are trying to do most things right.

"But with any football team, it doesn't matter how good, bad or indifferent you are, you need a bit of good fortune with decisions."

Hodgson insisted ending West Brom's long win-less streak at Anfield gave him greater pleasure than getting one over on his former employers.

"The major satisfaction is winning at Anfield. With the team we have I don't think most people expect us to come and win here," he said.

"We go away very happy. I understand Kenny and his team will feel very aggrieved they did not get something out of the game and their performance merited something - I can't argue with that.

"But you will have to forgive me for feeling pleased we did get away from this game with a result."

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