Kuyt: Sunderland all that matters
Dirk Kuyt believes Liverpool will be ready to fire on all cylinders when they face Sunderland in their Barclays Premier League curtain-raiser – despite some mixed results in pre-season.
The Reds have struggled to produce their best form during their first five friendly encounters, shipping 15 goals in the process.
However, the Dutchman insists all that matters is that they are ready for their first league clash of the 2011-12 campaign.
Click on the play button below to watch the best of the 3-3
Kuyt said: "We are letting in too many goals but the point is we have to defend like a team.
"That starts from the front and we need to improve.
"We know we have the ability and we just need to train really hard.
"We have another practice game on Saturday to put things right. I'm sure if we do that a little bit better in the next game then we will be ready for Sunderland."
He added: "I'm not concerned as it's still pre-season. If we beat them (Sunderland) in our first game then it's been a good pre-season for us."
Liverpool were involved in another goal-fest on Monday night when they came from two goals down to claim a 3-3 draw with Valerenga.
The Reds looked to have secured an unlikely win when Daniel Agger pounced for his second of the game on 88 minutes but a stoppage time leveller from Mohammed Fellah left Kuyt and his teammates highly frustrated.
"We're very disappointed with the result," Kuyt said.
"We had a really bad start to the game and conceded two goals. They were sharp and aggressive and played very well in the first half.
"I think from 2-0 down we tried to come back into the game and we scored some good goals. We played better in the second half and got ourselves 3-2 up but then gave it away at the end.
"We have to do a little bit more to be ready for the league but we still have time to work on things. We had a good trip to Asia, we've all worked hard and the next step is to put that into the games."
The high scoring draw was played out in front of packed crowd at the Ullevaal Stadium and Kuyt admitted he had enjoyed another run out in front of the Reds' Norwegian fan base.
He added: "It's amazing how many Liverpool supporters we have got over here,
"I've played here before and it's always great to come to Norway."