Dalglish makes five changes for United clash

Kenny Dalglish was quick to make his presence felt as Liverpool’s new temporary manager, making five changes for this afternoon’s third-round FA Cup tie at Manchester United.

With Glen Johnson missing because his wife is due to give birth, there was an immediate reason for only one of Dalglish’s moves, although it seemed a tactical switch was also in the offing.

Dirk Kuyt and Raul Meireles were introduced to the Liverpool midfield, with Martin Kelly, Fabio Aurelio and Daniel Agger all included in a much-changed defensive line-up from the one that suffered a tortuous evening at Blackburn on Wednesday when they lost 3-1.

United boss Alex Ferguson had vowed to field his strongest side, but the reality was slightly different.

Edwin van der Sar, Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vidic were not involved at all, while Brazilian midfielder Anderson was on the bench.

It meant a first start for Jonny Evans since the Carling Cup defeat at West Ham, while in-form Javier Hernandez partnered Dimitar Berbatov up front, with new arrival Anders Lindegaard on the bench as back-up to goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak who was making his third successive appearance.

Man Utd: Kuszczak, Rafael Da Silva, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra, Nani, Carrick, Fletcher, Giggs, Berbatov, Hernandez.

Subs: Lindegaard, Owen, Anderson, Smalling, Fabio Da Silva, Obertan, Gibson.

Liverpool: Reina, Kelly, Skrtel, Agger, Aurelio, Kuyt, Meireles, Lucas, Maxi, Gerrard, Torres.

Subs: Gulacsi, Kyrgiakos, Babel, Wilson, Ngog, Poulsen, Shelvey.

Referee: Howard Webb (S Yorkshire)