Dalglish calls for calm
Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish urged his players to deal better with their frustration after a stormy 2-0 defeat at Newcastle.
Goalkeeper Jose Reina was sent off nine minutes from time for head-butting defender James Perch, and £35million striker Andy Carroll, who endured a miserable return to his former club, headed straight down the tunnel having aimed a volley of abuse at his manager when he was replaced two minutes earlier.
"We don't have a problem with people showing their desperation or disappointment or frustration, but we need to channel it better than we have done," said Dalglish.
Reina will miss the FA Cup semi-final against Everton as a result of his misdemeanour, and his side now find themselves 11 points adrift of Newcastle and a point behind Merseyside rivals Everton in the race for sixth place in the Barclays Premier League.
Dalglish said: "We started well enough. We passed and moved and looked pretty threatening, but obviously, it ended up with a lot of frustration and disappointment. The frustration and disappointment resulted in the actions Pepe (Reina) took when he got a deserved red card.
"Also when Andy came off and went up the tunnel, he was disappointed with the way the game was going, not necessarily for himself, but for the team, and the frustration took him up into the dressing room."
Papiss Cisse's double won an incident-packed game as Carroll's return to Tyneside turned into a nightmare.
He was booked for diving early on and headed over from close range, and his side might have been awarded a 16th-minute penalty for handball after full-back Danny Simpson bundled the ball off the line.
However, by the time Carroll left the pitch, to his clear annoyance and cat-calls from the home fans with 11 minutes remaining, his side was heading for defeat.
Dalglish added: "Maybe if we shout up louder, we might get some refereeing decisions. But we will try to remain calm and try to sort out the problems we have to get ourselves back into the way we want to be playing."
