The Scot vows to "think a bit longer term than just one game" ahead of Thursday's Europa league tie against Sparta Prague.
The 30-year-old England midfielder has missed the Reds' last two games due to a groin problem and Dalglish will not risk bringing him back into the fold too soon.He told www.liverpoolfc.tv: "Steven is almost there. Whether he gets there in time or not remains to be seen, but we're not going to push somebody into a game that's not quite ready.
"As much as Steven would love to play and we'd love to have him, I think we've got to think a bit longer term than just one game.
"But if he's fit and well, he'll come under consideration like everybody else.
"I think it's important we adopt the same philosophy as we've had before with the likes of Jay Spearing, who could have carried on a little bit longer with his injury but we wanted to get it done and dusted and get him looked after.
