Liverpool go seventh, but Dalglish remains realistic

Liverpool 1 Fulham 0.  Liverpool have moved up into seventh in the Premier League after last night's victory over Fulham, but it was hardly a convincing win and one that left Reds' manager Kenny Dalglish far from ecstatic.

"I think we are better than that," said the Liverpool manager. "It's getting a wee bit more realistic, but we're not getting carried away by being seventh. That's not where this football club wants to be. We want to be further up than that."

The truth is, however, that Liverpool right now don't possess the quality players to seriously challenge Arsenal or the two Manchester clubs. Even the return of Steven Gerrard failed to ignite Liverpool and the Kop endured an anxious final 10 minutes as Fulham besieged the Reds' goal, forcing Pepe Reina to make three good saves.

As for the solitary goal, that just about summed up what was a scrappy, disjointed match. Fulham defender John Pantsil miscued a clearance kick on 52 minutes, the ball spinning into his own net to ultimately condemn Fulham to their first league defeat in four matches.

"We were fortunate to win the game," admitted Dalglish, adding: "Fulham will think they're unlucky to come away with no points. It was a fortunate goal, but before that we had four or five decent chances."

The last time Dalglish faced Fulham was in 1986 when as player-manager of Liverpool he masterminded a 10-0 thrashing of the Cottagers in the League Cup. Times have changed since then and while last night's performance was a far cry from those glory years of Alan Hansen, Jan Molby and Ian Rush.

It nonetheless lifted Liverpool into their highest league position of the season. "Tonight the boys showed a great amount of determination and effort, so great credit to them," said Dalglish. "They have had a hard run of games and I think this type of victory has been a long time coming."

The sight of Gerrard – back having served a three-match suspension for a red card against Manchester United – had the Kop in good heart throughout and while the Liverpool captain had a solid if unspectacular match, his presence will further lift a Reds side who in beating Fulham won their first back-to-back games in the Premier League since November.

But Dalglish is refusing to get carried away by talk of a top four finish. "Our only target is to beat Stoke next Wednesday [in the League]," he said. "That's been the same since I came here. We've never gone out and said we're going to do this or that." ·