Dalglish hails Suarez impact

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish was delighted with the performance of new signing Luis Suarez, who scored on debut in the Reds’ win over Stoke.

Suarez, a 23-million-pound acquisition from Ajax, started on the bench but came on just after the hour mark to score his first goal for the Anfield club with 11 minutes remaining.

His goal, tallied with Raul Meireles’ 47th-minute opener, handed Liverpool a vital 2-0 win that kept them in seventh place in the Premier League standings.

Dalglish said he was pleased with Suarez’s efforts, and revealed the Uruguayan marksman was yet to train with his new team-mates.

“Suarez scored on his debut which is fantastic for him and great for the supporters and everyone,” Dalglish told Sky Sports.

“He’s not trained with the players yet because of the paperwork that had to be finished. He only got his work permit yesterday. He’s not trained but it’s something to look forward to when he starts training with the lads.”

Dalglish also paid tribute to his defensive unit, and reserved a special mention for Greek defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos, who made a return from injury in the match.

“It’s a clean sheet and it’s the best (team) we had at our disposal so we had to play with what we had that best suited us,” he said.

“It’s great credit to the players, and big Soti (Kyrgiakos) was brilliant at the back there heading and battling away and everything. He’s not played for six weeks so he’s entitled to get a little bit of cramp but he didn’t want to come off and he plodded away.”

Stoke boss Tony Pulis deemed his side’s effort a competitive one, but rued the fact they conceded a goal just after the interval.

“We did okay for the first half, but to concede just after half-time knocked us.”

“But up until the second goal I thought we were in the game.”