Brendan Rodgers Proud of Outstanding Reds

Brendon Rodgers has hailed Liverpool's performance against Manchester United and accused referee Mark Halsey of helping his rivals. The Reds dominated the Anfield game but ultimately lost 1-2 to their bitter rivals, following the dismissal of midfielder Jonjo Shelvey towards the end of the first half.

"I'm bitterly disappointed with the result - I thought the best team lost. What we could control, I thought the players and the performance level was outstanding. What you can't control is decisions by the referee. We're bitterly disappointed it didn't go our way today, but performance wise I thought the players were outstanding. We dominated the majority of the game, even with 10 men, but it didn't go our way," the club Web site quoted Rodgers as saying.

The Northern Irishman was furious with the referee's call to send Shelvey off for a sliding challenge on Jonny Evans and also the debatable late penalty, which was converted by Robin van Persie.

"I thought it [the sending off] was a very, very harsh decision and throughout the game that's how it went for us. A number of decisions went against us and that ended up costing us the game. The only help we got was from the crowd, who were absolutely phenomenal right the way through the game and I think they respect and appreciate what we're trying to do. Decisions didn't go our way, for sure," the manager pointed out.

Agger Faces Lengthy Lay-Off

Liverpool centre-back Daniel Agger could be ruled out for a number of months, following the medial ligament injury that he picked up against United. The Denmark international was stretchered off in the 79th minute after colliding with Glen Johnson. The Reds' forward Fabio Borini also suffered an ankle injury during the match and was replaced at the break by Spanish youngster Suso.

"Fabio had a badly swollen ankle that he was struggling to put any force on. We have to wait and see about Daniel Agger. It didn't look too good with his knee. Some of the medics were saying he might have a problem with his medial ligament," ESPN quoted Rodgers.

Liverpool are yet to register their first league win this season and are currently 18th in the table.