Dalglish in ref rage after defeat at Stoke

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish admitted he is considering an official complaint about the standard of refereeing after his side crashed to a controversial 1-0 defeat at Stoke.

Dalglish was left nursing a burning sense of injustice over the performance of referee Mark Clattenburg and will speak to owner John W Henry before taking his complaints to the Professional Game Match Officials Limited, who represent top-flight officials, over the standard of decision-making so far this season.

Stoke took the points on Saturday when Clattenburg ruled that Jamie Carragher's challenge on Jon Walters was worthy of a penalty and the striker picked himself up to score from the spot.

Clattenburg left Liverpool frustrated again when he waved away a late penalty claim, even though Matthew Upson appeared to handle Luis Suarez's cross.

It is not the first time Dalglish has felt aggrieved this season and, clearly unhappy with the performance of the Durham official, he is prepared to take the matter further.

"We can only do what we can do ourselves, sometimes other things are taken out of our jurisdiction and if we continue to play like that with the same attitude and commitment we'll be okay this season," he said.

"But if we continually get battered by things that are out of our control then we're not going to have much chance.

"The first four league games have all had contentious decisions in them and every one of them has gone against us.

"We would like to be respectful towards the referees. I think we have been respectful towards the referees but more importantly than respecting referees and their campaign, they should have respect for my football club.

"If I feel they're suffering in any way, shape of form then I think I'll just need to go down the same route as some other people go and see if we can get some benefit from that.

"I'll speak to the owners first and see what they say. The last thing I want to do is for my behaviour to impinge on the club in any way. I'll speak to the owners and seek their advice."

Dalglish was condemned to his first defeat of the season as Walters' penalty ensured Stoke preserved their own unbeaten record this season.

Peter Crouch and Wilson Palacios both made their debuts for Stoke but it was the man whose place looks under jeopardy who delivered the hammer blow to his home-town club.

Born ten miles away from Anfield in Merseyside, Walters won and scored the spot kick that only served to keep the feel-good factor buzzing around the Potteries.

Tony Pulis, the Stoke manager, said: "I'm pleased as punch, we've got Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United as the three home games and I was disappointed with the way it came out.

"I was thinking where are the points coming from but to have eight points is a very good start."

source: http://news.yahoo.com/dalglish-ref-rage-defeat-stoke-022010559.html