Why I wouldn’t bet against us winning this trophy this year

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish said that the player’s approach towards the match was key to the Reds 3-1 victory against Exeter City last night:

“I think the most important thing was our attitude to the game and I think we started it in the right frame of mind. If we had come here with a bad attitude we wouldn’t have got any result other than a disappointing one. I think that’s what got us through. We had a very good attitude and a lot of players played for the first time this season.”

No doubt, King Kenny was mindful as to how Roy Hodgson’s side approached the League Cup Third Round match against Northampton Town last season. The loss began a downward spiral for Roy’s time at Anfield, and Dalglish certainly didn’t want to repeat the same mistake.

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Hodgson didn’t even pick any first team players on the bench that night so the Reds couldn’t rescue the situation if they found themselves in difficulty. Dalglish was far more careful with his team selection, picking a mixture of first choice players and youth prospects. The combination worked very well.

Still the Reds could’ve come up a cropper if they hadn’t gone into the match with the right mentality, and Dalglish was certainly keen for the players to take the match seriously. After all, this is no Mickey Mouse competition for the King, as he won the League Cup four times in a row as a player back in the early 80s with the Reds.

With no European football too, the Carling Cup has greater importance, and the Reds can easily take advantage of other teams who either field weakened sides, or don’t come into the matches with the right desire to win the match. With teams like Sunderland going out of the competition against lower league sides, even when going into the match with near full strength sides, it shows that attitude is key if the Reds want to win this competition.