Dalglish questions Reds’ approach as Cup appears to weigh on minds

The Scot publicly criticised his players for the first time after this defeat, which lifted Wanderers out of the bottom three.

A defence which had looked so solid for more of the season was torn apart with ease by Owen Coyle’s team but Dalglish said the blame could not be levelled just at his back four.

The Reds boss has consistently said he does not expect to be busy in the transfer market this month and one poor performance will not spark a panic-buying spree.

But with Manchester City, in the second leg of the Carling Cup semi-final, and Manchester United, in the fourth round of the FA Cup, coming to Anfield over the next five days he has stressed such an abject display will not be tolerated.

“There is no point in having a knee-jerk (reaction) is there?,” said the Scot.

“That is the first time it has been like that so we will see what happens. But it is no comfort we have Man City on Wednesday or another game on Saturday.

“The players have to realise every game at this club is a big game, not just the ones that suit them.

“I never asked them what they were thinking but I would assume that people would have that idea (of a Carling Cup semi-final) in their mind – and if it was it is not correct.

“Everything which went wrong we can say we have to look at ourselves. The problem starts with their attitude and approach to the game.

“If you have pride in yourself and the club that reflects on the effort you put in and for me I don’t know where it comes from but it had better go quickly.

“The key is now for us to not repeat what we have done.”

Mark Davies put Bolton ahead after four minutes and Nigel Reo-Coker added a second just before the half-hour when Chris Eagles – as he had with the opener – unlocked a previously frugal defence with a chipped pass.

Craig Bellamy was Liverpool’s only real threat throughout the entire match and having had one shot saved by Adam Bogdan he made no mistake second time of asking when Andy Carroll’s header sent him racing through to clip past the Bolton goalkeeper.

But any hopes of a recovery were snuffed out when Gretar Steinsson fired home from a corner five minutes after the interval.