Steven Gerrard had no doubts about the fact that poor refereeing decisions made the difference between Liverpool settling for a draw instead of all three points in the Merseyside Derby against Everton, while warning rival teams about their strategy of winding up Luis Suarez.

The Reds, after throwing away a two-goal lead, were denied a last-gasp winner from Suarez, with the assistant referee incorrectly holding his flag up for offside.

"I've seen it again and we can feel sorry for ourselves because it was a clear goal," Gerrard told the Echo. "We should be taking away the three points rather than just one. There is no offside and it's difficult for me to explain it. The only person who can explain it is the linesman.

"I asked him after the game if it was offside and he said 'I think so'. That's not good enough. If every decision in this league is based on 'We think so' then we're in trouble.

"The linesman got it badly wrong. The benefit of the doubt is supposed to go to the attacking player anyway."

Gerrard also felt Everton's second goal should not have stood, as the throw-in, from which the goal was created, should have actually gone Liverpool's way.  "For their second goal, it's a clear throw-in to us," he added. "The linesman gives us the throw but the referee (Andre Marriner) saw something different. He gave Everton the throw and their second goal came from that.

"I feel sorry for our lads because I thought we were fantastic today and deserved to win.

"We had a young, small team out there but they were all men today and stuck together. There was one team here who came to play football and win the game and that was us."

Suarez was at his absolute best against Everton, scoring one and forcing an own goal, before seeing a legitimate goal ruled out for offside. Everton manager David Moyes had gone into the game criticizing the Uruguayan striker for diving, a comment which clearly motivated the Liverpool man to perform.

Gerrard believes winding up Suarez might actually work in Liverpool's favor rather than help their opponents. "Luis Suarez was fantastic for us again today," the Liverpool captain said. "I can't control what he does when he scores a goal, I was just happy to see it hit the back of the net.

"He doesn't need David Moyes to fire him up. But if people want to try to get in Luis's head and wind him up then it's the wrong thing to do.

"You saw from today's evidence that it seems to inspire him rather than go against him."

The England captain was also critical of Everton's double standards after Toffees captain Phil Neville received a yellow card for diving. "His (Neville's) manager did every paper, every radio station and every TV channel talking about Luis Suarez and then his captain, who is meant to be setting an example, blatantly dives.

"With what he said about Luis Suarez before, David Moyes was trying to get in the referee's head, which is fine, that's all part of the game, stuff like that, but you don't expect your captain to dive like that."