Kenny Dalglish has refused to criticise the Football Association for delaying a verdict on charges Luis Suarez racially abused Manchester United defender Patrice Evra.
Liverpool manager Dalglish and Suarez have been made to wait until Tuesday at the earliest for a ruling as the FA deliberate in the case between the Uruguay striker and Evra.
Last week's hearing, which heard claims Suarez used derogatory language in a confrontation during a match at Anfield on October 15, started on Wednesday and a verdict had been expected on Friday.
But an independent regulatory commission continued their investigation into the weekend and Dalglish was in no mood to fan the flames on Sunday following Liverpool's 2-0 win away to Aston Villa.
"I can't comment on it," Dalglish said of the case. "It's not my choice not to comment but I wouldn't like to prejudice anything.
"We've been respectful all the way through and I don't think at this stage we would want to be accused of losing that respect.
"But Luis was tremendous. He has been sat in a hotel room for three days and only trained Tuesday and Friday but to produce a performance like that speaks volumes for the man."
Liverpool secured their fifth away win of the season at Villa Park, moving up into sixth place after Craig Bellamy and Martin Skrtel, both from corners, scored in the space of four first half minutes before Suarez twice hit the woodwork.
England's Stewart Downing impressed on his return to Villa Park.
The winger left Villa for £20 million before the start of the season and Dalglish paid tribute to Downing, repeatedly jeered by the home crowd.
"If Stewart had a tough reception then people must be living a sheltered life," Dalglish said.
"I think it's sad, they (the Villa fans) would have done better to have given support to their own players because it wasn't going to upset Stewart."
Liverpool have now hit the woodwork 17 times this season and Dalglish joked: "We can solve that problem if we can shave a couple of inches off the post.
"We'll keep trying because the harder you try the luckier you become.
"Maybe one day we'll hit the bar and it will end up going in.
"We've got a really good spirit in the dressing room and it shows on the pitch. We've had a shut-out, scored two goals to increase our goals and points tally and increased the number of times we've hit the woodwork as well."
Villa manager Alex McLeish has now lost three of his last four home games at Villa Park, with England international Darren Bent missing this game because of thigh and groin problems.
"Fingers crossed he will be okay for the game against Arsenal on Wednesday but we lacked a cutting edge without Darren and (Gabriel) Agbonlahor (who was suspended)," McLeish, whose team are 10th, said.
"We're going through a period of transition trying to stabilise things at the moment and they had too much nous and experience for us," the former Rangers and Birmingham boss added.
"We had two kids on the bench who haven't kicked a ball for us yet so it does highlight how short we are when we're without experienced players.
"We tried to keep the momentum going from the win at Bolton but we've got three players missing who played in that game."
Source: AFP
