Kenny Dalglish paid tribute to the desire and commitment of his players after Liverpool recorded a 3-1 victory over Manchester United at Anfield on the day Andy Carroll made his Reds bow.

Dirk Kuyt sent the home team into the interval holding a two-goal lead after an action-packed opening 45 minutes.

The Dutchman completed his hat-trick midway through the second half, pouncing after Edwin Van der Sar had failed to hold Luis Suarez's free-kick.

Javier Hernandez netted a stoppage-time consolation for United, but it failed to take any of the gloss off a memorable afternoon for Liverpool.

Dalglish told his post-match press conference: "Well everybody who supports Liverpool has had a great day and it owes to the performance of the players.

"I thought the way they went about their job, their attitude, their commitment, their desire to get a result, the pride they took in playing for the football club and the pride they took in themselves in their own performance were the reasons they got the result.

"Without everybody giving everything they've got, you don't beat Manchester United - they did that. It's great credit to them that they did and played so well."

He added: "As I've said many times before, the players have been brilliant to work with, really responsive to the training at Melwood with Steve Clarke and Sammy Lee and they've got their reward for it.

"They got what they got today because they worked really hard to get it, and that's great credit to them."

Click on the play button below to watch Kenny's post-United press conference

While Kuyt's treble will grab the headlines, Suarez's scintillating performance saw him awarded the Carlsberg Man of the Match trophy after the game.

Dalglish, though, was keen to stress it was very much a team effort.

"They were all outstanding in different ways," he said. "Dirk got three goals and he'll get the headlines. Luis played really well, fantastically well, but the rest of them weren't too far behind.

"With the contribution of the rest, the boys wouldn't have had an enjoyable an evening as what they probably will have. At the same time, we know it's a good victory for us, very important for us, and we know Manchester United are a great benchmark, but our season is not finished.

"We'll get our reward by looking at the league table and seeing another three points. We just want to keep going and get as many as we possibly can."

The club's record signing Carroll was handed his Liverpool debut as a 74^th minute substitute.

He was given a warm handshake by the boss before taking to the field and Dalglish said: "It was just a bit of reward for him because he's done really well, along with the medical staff, to get himself this far.

"It's a reward for him to get back onto the pitch. It's the next logical extension to his fitness programme. He had a wee run out, I'm sure he enjoyed it but I'm sure it was an indication to himself that he's a wee bit to go yet."

Dalglish continued: "He's a good guy. He's not somebody who thinks he is superior to anybody else, he just loves playing football and wants to be part and parcel of the football club.

"We've got to temper his enthusiasm a little bit, but he's only a young lad who is going to be a big, big player for this football club. I shook his hand to wish him all the best, the same as I do before every game to every player."

Reporters quizzed Dalglish on how this performance ranked alongside the others he has overseen since returning to the helm in January.

He said: "I don't know, it's very hard immediately after a game to see how it equates to other games.

"For me, it was thoroughly deserved - whether it's the best or not, I suppose other people can judge that. I thought we deserved to win 3-1. Some of the players are a wee bit disappointed to have lost a goal in the last minute, but that won't take away the shine.

"I don't know whether it's the best (performance), but it's certainly very satisfactory."

He continued: "The closer you get the top, the more difficult it is to close the gap. If you move from 20^th to sixth, it's not as big a problem as moving from second to first. The higher you go, the more difficult the step up is.

"The owners are determined to move the club forward within reason, and whatever that's going to be they'll do their best to provide it. But the players that played today did not do themselves any harm whatsoever of being part of the club going forward."

The outcome was in stark contrast to Dalglish's first game back in charge - a 1-0 FA Cup reversal at Old Trafford.

"It was a totally different story, but every game is a different story," he reflected. "It's difficult to compare both. They got given a penalty after a minute and we had our captain sent off after 30.

"It was really different to what this was today. But today everybody was disciplined, well tuned in to what they had to do, wanted to do it and did it."

Quizzed about a couple of strong challenges during the contest, Dalglish responded: "I thought the players were fantastic. I thought the referee had an easy game to manage apart from a couple of instances.

"The more important thing for me is the quality of the football that was played. That should be the thing that takes focal point - the quality of the football. Both sets of players made it an enjoyable spectacle for everybody, so I would rather concentrate on that.

"There's enough rubbish been written anyway about other things, so we'll concentrate on the positives."

There was a special moment in the dying stages of the contest as the Kop chanted 'Happy Birthday' to Dalglish after the boss celebrated his 60^th on Friday.

Click on the play button below to watch Kop sing Happy Birthday to Kenny

He said: "I don't know how long this birthday is going to last - I'll be 70 by the time it finishes!

"The fans have always been fantastic supporters to myself and my whole family. It was a bit emotional when they started singing it - I don't think they would have sang it if we had been losing, and I wouldn't have wanted to have heard it if we were, but as I said the day went really well for us. The fact it was my birthday, well every day is my birthday when I go into Melwood."

Meanwhile, reporters questioned Dalglish on the fitness of Steven Gerrard.

The skipper completed the 90 minutes but press reports had earlier suggested he may have been a doubt.

Dalglish said: "Steven wants to play. The same as last week. Steven had it in his mind he was going to play most of the week, so it wasn't a surprise to us when he said yesterday he would.

"What did we say? Thanks very much! It says a lot about all of the players and that was shown in the way they were totally committed to the result."