Furious Dalglish blasts referees

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has taken a swipe at referees claiming his side has been continually ‘battered’ by contentious decisions.

Following a 1-0 defeat at Stoke, a fuming Dalglish slammed the decision to award Stoke a penalty – which they converted – after Jamie Carragher was adjudged to have brought down John Walters in the box.

The veteran manager repeatedly and pointedly said that he would consult the club’s owners about what course of action to take following weeks of what he believed to be controversial circumstances.

“The first four league games have all had a contentious decisions and everyone has gone against us,” he said.

“We can only do what we can do ourselves, sometimes things are taken outside your jurisdiction, and if you continue to play like that – with the commitment – we’ll be OK this season.”

“But if we continually get battered by things that are outside our control then we’re not going to have much chance.”

Dalglish reiterated the need to seek guidance from the club’s owners.

“I’ll speak to the owners first, see what they say because the last thing I want to do is for my behaviour to impinge on the club’s success in any way, shape or form,” he said.

“We would like to be respectful to the referees and I think we have been respectful to the referees, but more important than being respectful to referees and their campaign is having respect for my football club, our football club, Liverpool Football Club, and if I feel that they’re suffering in any way, shape or form, I’ll need to go the same route some other people do, and see if we can gain some benefit from that.”

The Reds were guilty of missing several opportunities to score, with Luis Suarez in particular missing a chance in injury time, but Dalglish had no complaints towards Stoke and even praised them for their resolute performance.

“They played very, very hard. They played well. They got their goal and they defended their goal courageously at times, maybe occasionally they got a bit of luck,” he said.

“We don’t have anything but appreciation for the way that they played and the way they held on to the game and [went] on and won.”

“However, I just can’t see how that it’s a penalty kick. I just can’t.”

Meanwhile, buoyant Stoke boss Tony Pulis believes his side’s win embodied everything the Potters are about.

“Our DNA is ‘up and at them’ and making sure we work as hard as we possibly can. To win today is great for everybody at this football club,” Pulis told Sky Sports.

“In the second half, that one incident around 60 minutes where three or four of the lads were throwing themselves at the ball – that typifies what we’re all about.”

Stoke now face a string of tough fixtures across three different competitions including their maiden Europa League campaign.

The Potters will face Dynamo Kiev, Sunderland, Tottenham and Manchester United in a difficult run, but Pulis is far from daunted.

“The fact that we’re in the Europa League as well is brilliant. What we’ve got to be careful with is that we manage it carefully and the Premiership is our priority,” he said.

“But we want to embrace it as much as we can. The players are looking forward to it and we’ll give it our best shot.”