Liverpool manager Dalglish plays mind games before Manchester United clash

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish played mind games before the crucial encounter between his side and Manchester United, saying referees shouldn't get influenced by those who shout the loudest - an indirect reference to United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

Sir Alex was charged with improper conduct during the week after lambasting referee Martin Atkinson for his performance in Chelsea's 2-1 win over United on Tuesday. Dalglish spoke about this, though he didn't mention Ferguson's name, and expressed his hope that such comments wouldn't influence the decisions made by the referee.

He said, Sometimes I worry that the ones who shout the loudest get more beneficial decisions - and that is totally unfair. This week the theme has been about referees and I've got to say that when I came back in as manager I was made fully aware of the respect campaign with regard to officials. I think we have adhered to the campaign in every respect.

We have never come out and criticised match officials in any of our games. They have made mistakes in all of our games, but we've also made mistakes. It is impossible for officials not to make mistakes, but there is a respect campaign in football and I want to know whether we are going to be the only ones that adhere to it.

I hope that we aren't going to suffer as a club because we show respect to officials. We will continue to respect the campaign - but only as long as we don't suffer in any way, shape or form because of it.

At this particular moment, I don't think anyone can argue that we haven't suffered. We gave a good account of ourselves in the FA Cup tie at Old Trafford when we lost to a poor penalty decision made in the first minute and then had Steven Gerrard sent off.

We will try our best to retain our dignity and show respect to referees, but we would also like to think they give us the respect we deserve by at least trying to go along with the guidelines of the campaign. Everybody thinks they are hard done-by by referees - and you are at some stage - but sometimes you get some benefits as well.