Offside News

Sports

Dalglish prepares for war against refs

Comment: 0 September 12th, 2011 by: admin

A war is coming, and it’s not between two clubs.

Frustrated over arguable official calls during last Saturday’s match, Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish is preparing to publicly deal with a number of issues regarding referee decisions.

This development was ignited by a number of questionable incidents during the match against Stoke – Liverpool’s first Premier League defeat.  According to Dalglish, this would be the fourth EPL match where ‘contentious; referee decisions have constantly worked against his squad.

Incidents during the latest match include a Stoke penalty shot that produced the only goal of the game.  Later on came a potential Liverpool equaliser care of Luis Suarez that hit the arm of Matthew Upson – a shot that produced no calls.

‘If we continue to play with the same attitude and commitment then we will be okay this season,’ said Dalglish.   ‘But if we continually get battered by things which are out of our control then we’re not going to have much chance.

‘We would like to be respectful to the referees, and I feel we have been respectful, but more importantly is them having respect for Liverpool Football Club.’

The Reds manager continued, suggesting going to certain lengths and making certain calls to rectify the situation should it prove too much.

‘If I feel we’re suffering in any way, shape or form then I may need to go the same route as some other people and see if I can gain some benefit from that.’

Whatever actions Dalglish will take will be those resulting from his consultation with club owner John Henry.

‘I’ll speak to the owners first and see what they say,’ he continued.  ‘The last thing I want to do is for my behaviour to impinge on the club’s success in any way.’

‘We don’t have any complaint about Stoke; they played hard and played well, they got the goal and defended courageously at times,’ Dalglish said.  ‘And maybe at times they got a bit of luck.’

The Scot’s statements were met with reasonable dispute by Stoke manager Tony Pulis.

‘I think Kenny will be as biased [towards Liverpool] as I am to Stoke,’ he told reporters.  ‘I respect his opinion.’

Pulis continued, suggesting that should Dalglish decide to go forth with his protest, chief referee Mike Riley would be the man to approach.

‘Kenny can ring Mike,’ he said.  ‘He will watch the game, decide if Kenny is right or not and will be honest and open with him.’

Commenting on his squad’s performance, Pulis pointed out a few points for improvement from his boys.

‘We were pretty poor in possession of the ball today and we are better than that,’ he told reporters, ‘but we were top drawer off the ball.  We stopped them playing, although I thought Suarez up front was fantastic.’

 

More