Dalglish: Maxi will not play every game

The Reds boss pays tribute to the Argentine’s consistently fine displays but admits much work remains to be done if the club is to win the race for a top four finish.Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish paid tribute to the professionalism and quality of midfielder Maxi Rodriguez after Monday’s disappointing 1-1 draw at home with Blackburn.The Argentine scored a 53rd minute equaliser as the Reds once again failed to convert their dominance into a win against unheralded opposition at Anfield, instead having to settle for a sixth home draw in the league.Rodriguez has failed to hold down a regular starting spot but has nevertheless scored 11 goals in his last 12 appearances for Liverpool, and Dalglish after the match singled out the midfielder for praise."Maxi is a very intelligent footballer," the Scot told reporters."He knows how to play, he loves to play but he is not going to play in every game and the same goes for Maxi as every other member of the squad."We have to manage him the best way we possibly can and when he plays he doesn't give you too many bad performances."He is a real credit to himself and if he was a bit younger we would have someone in our squad who would be top drawer."Monday’s setback leaves Liverpool sixth in the Premier League, three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea, and Dalglish admits the race for the top four will be fiercely contested."There could be more than three teams involved [in the battle] for fourth spot but as long as we are involved and give ourselves a chance then we will be happy with that," he added."Our target is to build on the work that we've already done."As we keep saying there's an awful lot of the work we have done that we've been very pleased with."There was a big turnaround of players since the start of the season and that includes Andy and Luis from last year."There's a couple of younger ones like Jonjo Shelvey and Jay Spearing that have stepped forward as well."We've brought a few players in as well so when you consider the progress they have made since August we are pretty pleased with it."We want to move on and everybody wants the reward for the fantastic play they have produced."