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THE protection granted to players in the modern era is a world away from the rough treatment dished out to Kenny Dalglish in his pomp.

The Liverpool boss believes football has unquestionably changed for the better since the days when a defender could cynically chop down an opponent from behind and merely escape with a ticking off.

But Dalglish fears the balance may have swung too far the other way. An art form is under threat.

The Scot is baffled by the debate surrounding Glen Johnson’s sliding tackle in the closing stages of Wednesday’s 1-0 victory at Manchester City.

Liverpool’s right-back won the ball cleanly and didn’t make any contact with Joleon Lescott.

Referee Lee Mason had a decent view and didn’t award a free-kick but a raging Roberto Mancini brandished an imaginary red card and continued his complaints long after the final whistle.

Having seen skipper Vincent Kompany dismissed for a similar two-footed lunge in the FA Cup tie with Manchester United last weekend, Mancini insisted Johnson deserved the same punishment.

The hypocrisy of Mancini, who called for a red card just four days after criticising Wayne Rooney for doing likewise, was succinctly pointed out to the City boss by Reds skipper Steven Gerrard in the tunnel.

Dalglish says there is a key difference between the challenges made by Kompany and Johnson. The City defender was hurtling towards Nani, while the path in front of Johnson was clear.

“There’s always an interpretation of what the tackle is,” he said. “I would have thought that if it’s a tackle then there has got to be a challenge. If I’m sliding in to clear the ball and there’s no challenge then it’s not a tackle is it?

“If someone is straight in front of me and I’m sliding in then that’s a tackle as someone is trying to challenge me. If you come in from behind and there’s someone between you and the ball then it’s the same thing.

“If there’s a clear pitch in front of you and you can reach it then reach it. People say Glen was showing his studs, but you always have to show studs when you slide in. Unless they show someone how to slide in without showing their studs, I don’t think it’s possible.

“Glen’s tackle is not a problem for us because there was no-one directly in front of him. He hasn’t come in from behind so I don’t see the problem.”

The high profile incidents have reopened the debate about tackling at the top level. Without doubt there’s a grey area about what is and what isn’t acceptable.

Last month Liverpool had Jay Spearing sent off for a strong challenge on Fulham’s Moussa Dembele. The midfielder played the ball before catching Dembele in his follow through. His reward was a three-match suspension.

In contrast earlier this month Chelsea’s Frank Lampard escaped with a yellow card for an horrendous lunge on Wolves winger Adam Hammill.

Dalglish admits inconsistency is an issue as referees attempt to work out the intent behind every tackle.

But the manager says there’s a danger of officials going too far and virtually outlawing tackling.

He said: “You walk into a shop and see a suit and think ‘why would anyone buy that?’ Then you see someone walking down the street wearing it.

“It’s all about taste. It comes down to the referee’s interpretation. They can only give what they see. It keeps coming back to intent and it’s very difficult to prove someone’s intent. Like wee Jay at Fulham, his only intent was to play the ball. He was totally focused on the ball but because he made contact with the player with his trailing leg he got a three-game ban.

“It’s a difficult thing to prove the intent of someone. In a lot of these tackles I don’t think there’s any intent to hurt anyone.

“The tackle which was a deliberate over the top to hurt someone is the one most people wanted outlawed. To be fair they have done a decent job with that.

“But they can’t go completely the other way and get rid of any contact and any tackles. You don’t want tackling taken out of football. But at the same time you don’t want to give anyone a licence to hurt people. There was an outcry about protecting people to allow players to entertain but tackling is an art as well if you do it properly.”

The Reds go into today’s home clash with eighth placed Stoke City on a high following back to back Cup wins over Oldham and Man City. Dalglish has been impressed by Tony Pulis’ Potters so far this season.

“Being in the Europa League was a big challenge for Stoke, but they got through their group and they might be sitting in one of the highest positions they’ve held in the Premier League,” he added.

“Tony has done a fantastic job and it’s great credit to everybody at Stoke they have done so well. We have to deal with the problems we anticipate they’ll bring. But they’ve also got to deal with our strengths and we’ve got a lot of them.”