Dalglish: I could have handled Suarez row better

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has admitted he should have handled the Luis Suarez racism row differently.

The Uruguayan was banned for eight matches after being found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra during a Premier League match in October.

The Liverpool manager defended his striker staunchly in the face of the accusations, maintaining Suarez had done nothing wrong.

The row further escalated during the return fixture between United and Liverpool at Old Trafford.

Suarez suggested he would shake Evra’s hand prior to the match but appeared to move his hand away during the pre-match introductions.

Dalglish told ESPN: “It would be done completely differently if it ever happened again – and I hope it never does.

“I wouldn’t say publicly what I would do differently but I know what I would do differently. I would address that.

“If I have done something wrong I am not shy in saying I have done something wrong. If I can do something better I will try and do it better.

“Everybody can look at themselves, whether they are good, bad or indifferent and say, ‘I could do things much better’. That is what I will try to do. I would certainly hope not to do things any worse.”

During Suarez’s suspension Liverpool’s form dropped off and they are now well short of a Champions League spot that was targeted at the start of the campaign.

Dalglish added: “You will never know how much the situation affected us. We will never know whether we would have won the games with Luis in or without him.

“It happened. We had to deal with it and we did deal with it.

“We have to brush ourselves down, stop feeling sorry for ourselves and get on with it. I think Luis is doing that now. We just have to get on with our life and make sure we learn our lessons from the past.”