Although I will not dwell on this point, the lack of respect shown to Kenny Dalglish is some of Sunday’s newspapers was quite shocking. There seemed to be a mocking attitude about King Kenny’s reaction to the key refereeing decisions that were made in the match against Stoke, an attitude that would not be in evidence if a certain Alex Ferguson was saying the same things.
I must say I too was initially surprised by the vehement nature of Dalglish’s comments towards the referee after the match, but the more I think about it, the more King Kenny words make sense. Although former ref Graham Poll’s (who criticised Kenny’s reaction to the Stoke match) comments are not totally related to my argument, there is an element of similarity between the awarding of penalties against smaller teams, and those teams and managers which afford too much respect to referees . Poll talks about why Norwich have had 4 penalties given against them in as many matches this season
“I don’t believe that any referee consciously goes out to give soft penalties against small teams but I know that they only give stone wall penalties against the biggest ones. One of the reasons for this is that they know the fallout, from the managers and the media, if they give a soft penalty against one of the big teams and the sub-conscious mind kicks in to afford the referee a level of protection, quite naturally.”
First of all I am not saying that Liverpool are a small team, this is ludicrous, but as Poll says, refs do subconsciously worry about the “fallout, from the managers and the media,” and who is more expert than Alex Ferguson in ensuring that such pressure is put on referees.
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In his interview with the BBC, Dalglish tried to avoid talking about the individual errors made by the referee and stated he would be talking to the owners about a more “destructive” tactic in regards to media handling when talking about referees a la Ferguson style.
Too much respect for refs, and not enough pressure may lead to referees subconsciously allowing soft penalties against Liverpool, something Dalglish feels he can stop by applying Ferguson’s media mind games playbook. He maybe criticised by the media for doing it, but it would be double standards considering how much Man United’s boss has got away with in recent years.
In an ideal world, you wouldn’t want to criticise any ref, they are human beings and they make mistakes like the rest of us, but if their decisions are costing you games, vital points in your chase for Champions League football and putting your job on the line, the manager has the responsibility of putting the interests of the club first. For Dalglish, this may mean ensuring that referees go into every match with Liverpool, knowing that he will be in the media spotlight if he makes a mistake. Then, as Graham Poll says, only stone wall penalties will be given against us, just like Manchester United.
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The pro XXX X establishment will try to make life difficult for a reviving Liverpool. Spot on Kenny.
We need to become more powerful financially and move on upwards and onwards. YNWA
We need to stop making excuses and improve. Small time to say the least.
Its all fergusons fault wha..wha…wha….boohoo.
Embarrassingly really.
When are we going to stop making excuses. I’m fed up with fellow LFC supporters putting the blame on somebody and this time no surprise it’s United and Ferguson. We seem to forget how the FA have been treating United in the last two years. Rooney got banned, Ferguson had some touchline bans. I also read an article in the summer about Penalties awarded for and against. United had Most penalties awarded against and fewest awarded to them from the big teams. So statistics say otherwise. We have to look at ourselves first and forget about United.
Well said John! We weren’t good enough! End of!!
TRUE !!! We started every game with TEN players this season. And against STOKE, Charlie Adams’ only strength was absent. It made it worse. But when we had ELEVEN players on the pitch from the 67th minute, we looked much better. Drop Henderson. We saw how good the team was, just too little too late then.
Why this piece popped up on my United newsfeed I have no idea, but it was interesting to note both the ridiculous thrust against Ferguson and the supposed way he works the refs, and the reality of the situation. As John stated, the truth is entirely different to perception, and the fact is United have repeatedly been on the receiving end of some very rough refereeing in recent seasons when playing against the top teams, and not just in penalties for and against. Time and time again players from Liverpool and Chelsea in particular get away with blue murder on the pitch (think Carragher on Nani last season, or the vicious play of Luiz that went entirely unpunished). This season is no different – look at how Arshavin got away with two red card offences in the first half against United a couple of weeks ago, or how Davies injured both Cleverly and Evra with his ‘mistimed’ tackles, putting the former out for nearly a month when he was just on the verge of breaking into the English side. He didn’t even receive a yellow for the attack on Cleverly, and should have received his marching orders second time round on Evra, who soldiered on bravely for the rest of the match because United had already used up all their subs.
Doesn’t matter if it’s United or Liverpool, the guys at the FA clearly have a bias against non-London clubs because of their dominance over the last 30 – 40 years. Football desperately needs to climb out of the dark ages and start utlizing modern technology, just as many other sports have done so in order to stem the flow of criticism resulting from video replays that highlight all the gaffs made by officials. A third official is needed to bring order and accuracy during matches, while post match reviews and a proper judiciary need to be put in place to stamp out unsavoury play by penalising players for incidents that go unnoticed or unpunished during a match. If players know that tape reviews might rub them out for a week or two they’d soon stop all the diving, vicious tackles, and niggling tactics defenders use (holding shirts out of sight of the ref is a good example) to put attackers off their game. Players are taught/encouraged to use such play because they know that the odds are in their favour, and that for every instance when they get caught there’s a handful of times when they don’t.They play the percentages. Start slugging them via post match reviews that catch EVERYTHING and they’ll soon realise the numbers have shifted completely against them. The result would be a more open, honest, and entertaining spectacle that we could all appreciate without the game being marred by the kind of controversy that questions the results, the tactics on hand, and the officiating.
Bottom line is the two games we have dropped points in so far were down to terrible refereeing.
This happens way too often with us and Kenny was right to come out and say it.I mean the decisions against us so far have been outrageous.
Has Kenny forgotten the 2 offside goals vs Arsenal?
I think you have to take a look again… 1 was close maybe just off the other not. That will always happen. some decisions go with you. I don’t think too many went LFC’s way on Saturday.
Forget the decisions,we couldn’t convert our chances,drop henderson&carra,bring on Coates&Bellamy to start,well done to Carra for alda long hard work,but if we are going to move forward we need no mistakes at the back,none at all.
like what everyone with sense is saying on this blog,stop making f***n embarrassing excuses for dropped points!!
So so true!LFC will keep dropping points unitil they start dropping Henderson”The Passenger”.We must start next game with ELEVEN players not TEN against Spurs.Kenny must realise that one mistake can lead to another.
I agree no excuses for the club. But shouldn’t the same be said for referee’s? We’re all human beings but at the end if the day, two erroneous decisions in 4 contests have resulted in dropped points. Bottom line though, LFC needs to compete St a higher level.
One statistic really sums up the whole match really; Shots on goal: Liverpool 20, Stoke 2…just unlucky…the reds played well….striker not blend with midfield yet…thats all…kenny not to be blame…be cool as LFC fan…trust the king!!!
im so dispointed when 20 : 2
its mean.. the striker and attacking mid is not work properly. something wrong.
1. We dont have killerinstict like aguero/dzenko,
rooney/hernandez,we only have suarez who work
alone.. he look weak.( loan back torres or 1
more deadly striker)
2. Every top team have a great bothside winger.
we only have downing on right and left. get
1 more deadly winger on right side. ( adam
johnson)
3. please make adam and henderson and gerrard
too to provide shoot from outside the penalty
box
We do not want Torres back… Don’t forget he wanted away. He did what he did at Liverpool but that’s in the past… Let’s keep it there! He forgot how to play for the shirt…
It would be a very good idea to loan Torres back.
Hi there, I though I would add a dash of reality to this page – IT WAS A PENALTY. There….that feels much better. Like it or not, by the letter of the law it was a penalty. Whether it was soft or not is no basis for the moaning by LFC fans. If it wasn’t a penalty, then I would understand, but it actually was a penalty so deal with it. Stop moaning. You’re slowly discovering what the rest of football knows, that your squad and your club are falling behind the real bug clubs. Even if it weren’t for that penalty, LFC still didn’t manage to score a goal. That should be your main worry.
Spot on ! LFC started with TEN players n only had the ELEVEN from 67th minute. Not enough time to change the outcome. Having one passenger don’t help the tean at all.
Alan your talking rubbish mate! kenny was right
about the pens in the games we have played
the two handballs against stoke were pens both players put out their hands simple decisions
but the ref was useless !and regards the stoke pen
walters grabbed carra,s arm just before,thats a foul to liverpool in my book.
Kenny is doing what he should do and that is to protect the club’s interest. what is wrong with u ppl who think u are so high up challenging his intelligence and tactics, and claiming that he was making excuses is just laughable when even Pulis admits that Delap’s handball in the first half is a penalty. i suppose stoke’s manager is a bigger liverpool fan than u lot.
Referee did make a mistake by not giving Liverpool a penalty when there was clearly a penalty.
I hope this “referee robed us” approach is only used as a form of pressure on ref’s not to give easy penalty’s against Liverpool and maybe give some easier penalty’s for LFC.
Nothing wrong in little bit of that, Barcelona are experts in it.
Still, I would like him to concentrate on stoping more matches like Sunderland and Stoke from happening where we see Liverpool finding it hard to create an opportunity with only real danger coming from Luis Suarez.
Anyone can see that, that’s way he always has 2 or 3 players around him and they let Henderson go 1 on 1 with a keeper and laugh afterwords .
Others must step up.
Penalty against us was soft but correct. Be nice to see free kicks given for that type of offence, when players “shepherd” the ball out for goal kicks. Lfc should have had 2 penalties. One against delap and one for the trip on MS. No excuses though really. Liverpool had enough chances to win the game comfortably.