Warnock tells Gerrard of 'disappointment'

Sheffield United boss Neil Warnock admits he told Steven Gerrard he was "disappointed" with the ease with which he went down for the opening penalty in Liverpool's 4-0 victory at Anfield today.

Liverpool were awarded two spot-kicks in the first period, the first when Rob Kozluk was adjudged to have grabbed at the Anfield skipper's waist.

The second, not contested by Warnock, was for a push by Nick Montgomery.

Warnock confronted Gerrard at half-time and revealed: "I told him I was disappointed with him. He was looking at the referee Steve Bennett, almost asking for the penalty.

"When you see the replay and you see Gerrard's eyes you will know he thinks he has won a penalty.

"You cannot blame him, 50% of referees would have given that and 50% would not. But Steve Bennett is a by the book referee, black and white.

"Some referees would see that Steven Gerrard used everything he had to get the penalty.

"Steve Bennett just rules by the laws of the game, he says that is consistency. He needs to understand the game more.

"It's the England captain looking at Steve Bennett and saying 'you've got to give a penalty here.'

"If Steve Bennett knew a bit more about the game and not the rules inside out, he'd be a really top referee. He's a manufactured referee.

"I said to Kozluk before he went out, 'don't get involved with your arms in the box' so he doesn't listen to me, does he?

"The penalty knocked the stuffing out of us. I'm Steven Gerrard's number one fan, he's a fantastic player and I don't blame him for what he did.

"He's virtually saying to the ref, I'm going to go down, almost before the ball has been kicked. You can say my lad is stupid for getting involved in the situation with the ref that close."

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez had little sympathy.

"The second penalty was very clear, and for the first one the referee was watching, and he'd warned the lad just before not to do it," he said.

"He had his arms around Steven, it was unnecessary and the referee was just there watching."

Benitez also revealed that Peter Crouch has a broken nose following the first-half incident when he was kicked in the face by Rob Hulse.

Spanish 'keeper Jose Reina was left out of the side because his wife Orlando had gone into labour with their first child during the night, and the player was at her bedside in hospital.