Habits die hard for Warnock

English FA Premiership/Sheffield Utd 1 Liverpool 1: It will take more than a suit and a touchline ban to change Neil Warnock. The Sheffield United manager wasted no time in dispelling the idea that his new attire and seat in the stand might alter his attitude towards referees. His criticism of Rob Styles, whom he held responsible for denying Sheffield United an opening-day victory, may not bring another FA charge, though a rebuke at home seems inevitable. Sharon Warnock has laid down the law this summer,and her husband will have to be careful.

"I have got to try and be constructive while I am angry underneath - without getting fined - that's what my wife says," explained Warnock. He may just have succeeded. The United manager's ire was fuelled by Styles's decision to award a controversial penalty that Robbie Fowler converted with 20 minutes remaining. Chris Morgan made no contact with Steven Gerrard when the Liverpool captain burst into the area, though Styles claimed the United defender intended to foul. Warnock, with some justification, was incensed.

"The thing is, 95 per cent of the people who have watched the replay of the incident know it's not a penalty," he said. "Unfortunately, the referee is one of the five per cent who believes it is a penalty. That's football. It's all about opinions. He's only had one major incident to deal with and I feel he's got it wrong. He says he got it right so I said, 'Why didn't you book Morgan and send him off?' It doesn't add up to me and when you see the incident there's no contact whatsoever. How can you say the intent was there?"

Morgan, booked earlier for handball, was equally perplexed. "To me it looked like a stumble. I tried to put him off and when he jumped over the tackle he lost his footing."

It was Liverpool's only good fortune. John Arne Riise and Jamie Carragher limped off with injuries in the first half and will not feature in tomorrow night's Champions League qualifier second leg against Maccabi Haifa. Carragher has strained the medial ligament in his left ankle and will be unable to train for two to three weeks, while Riise is set to spend longer on the sidelines having torn the lateral ligament in his left ankle.

Rafael Benitez admitted his team selection here had been influenced by that crucial fixture.

His players appeared similarly distracted as they struggled to find any fluency in a poor first half.

With Xabi Alonso missing Liverpool could not gain a foothold as the home side worked tirelessly to close down space. No one was more willing than Rob Hulse, whose reward for toiling alone up front arrived shortly after the interval when he headed home David Unsworth's free-kick.

Warnock's big day had been ruined although he admitted it could have been worse. "I was just pleased that the referee's one-two with his head didn't result in a goal," said the United manager. "I would have been distraught if that had gone in."