Dalglish still fuming at Carling Cup clash timing

The Scot was outraged when he discovered his side would have to play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge two days after Sunday’s league match at home to Manchester City. Liverpool held discussions with the Premier League, Football League and Sky television in an attempt to get one of the games moved but it was to no avail.

The Premier League were reluctant to bring the league match forward because of concerns it would cause major inconvenience to fans at short notice. The Metropolitan Police could not sanction a move to tomorrow because of a Trades Union Congress rally taking place in central London and Tottenham’s Europa League game at home to PAOK Salonika.

Dalglish is likely to make a number of changes for their second trip to Chelsea in just over a week – having won 2-1 the weekend before last – but that has not stopped him speaking out again about the timing.

“Forty-eight hours is a bit irresponsible for the people who’ve organised the dates of the matches. It’s not just us, it’s Man City,” he told liverpoolfc.tv. “To ask any team or any players to play two games of high intensity in 48 hours is a bit of a joke.

“I don’t know why the PFA (Professional Footballers’ Association) don’t come in and say something about it. Or do they agree with it? We know we’ve got to accept it although we don’t agree with it, and it won’t affect the application or give us an excuse.

“There’ll be one or two bumps and bruises I would have thought, and maybe one or two missing, but we have a strong squad and we’ve made changes in other Carling Cup matches. It will be a late shout because we have to give everyone the best possible opportunity to recover.

“We’ve sold out our tickets for the match, we know what’s expected, the players know what’s expected of them, so all we can do is try our best and see what happens.”

Chelsea played on Saturday so they have had an extra day to recover.

Dalglish believes Andre Villas-Boas will keep disruptions to his side down to a minimum.

“I don’t expect Chelsea to have to make changes,” he added. “He (Villas-Boas) has said he’ll use the competition to try to develop three young players he has that he likes, so I suppose those three will play.”

PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor said he understood Dalglish’s sentiments but stressed there were positives to come out of the situation. “I can see his viewpoint and I agree with him,” he said. “The fixture calendar is so compact now it is like trying to get a quart in a pint pot. We have the Premier League, League Cup, FA Cup and then European and international matches.

“But to the same extent clubs have big squads these days and rotation of players happens because you could not have the same team playing all the games. Probably the one good thing about it is it gives the opportunity to players who are not featuring regularly to show what they can do.

“That is how a number of clubs have viewed it (the Carling Cup). Manchester United and Arsenal have both used the tournament to give youngsters an opportunity.”

Liverpool defender Jose Enrique insists there will be no excuses from the players as they prepare for a quick turnaround and admits fixture congestion is a situation unique to English football and one the squad have to deal with as best they can.

“If the manager decides I have to play I play,” the left-back said. “The Premier League and Football League didn’t make a good decision.

“We played on Sunday and have to play in another 48 hours, whereas Chelsea played on Saturday. This is not normal. It just happens in England.”