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• Luis Suárez suspended for gesturing towards Fulham fans
• Kenny Dalglish reiterates backing for striker Andy Carroll

Luis Suárez will miss the Anfield game against Newcastle United on Friday after the Football Association handed down a one‑match ban and a £20,000 fine for his one-fingered gesture to the crowd at Fulham this month. The Uruguayan striker, already facing an eight‑game ban subject to Liverpool appealing against the verdict of the FA’s tribunal on the Patrice Evra racial abuse case, has also been warned over his future conduct.

Liverpool, who picked up an additional FA fine of £20,000 for failing to control their players in the same Craven Cottage match in which Jay Spearing was dismissed, have decided to accept both punishments and will not be contesting either decision. The club admitted the charge of failing to ensure their players behaved in an orderly fashion but initially contested the financial penalty until an independent regulatory commission ruled it was applicable.

Suárez admitted the charge against him, as did the Liverpool manager, Kenny Dalglish, once photographic evidence was made available, and sources within the club say the intention now is to move on from this relatively minor matter and await the FA commission’s detailed report into the Evra incident. Liverpool will almost certainly launch an appeal against the eight‑match suspension once the commission’s findings have been made public. The FA are in the process of making a detailed report available, and once Liverpool have been made aware of the exact case against their player and reasons for finding him guilty they have a further fortnight to make up their minds about an appeal.

Suárez, Liverpool’s leading scorer this season, has been in England almost a year and has never served a suspension in this country, though just before leaving Holland for Merseyside he was given a seven-match ban for biting an opponent while playing for Ajax. At Fulham he was apparently upset by sections of the home crowd accusing him of cheating by going to ground too easily. Dalglish has never attempted to defend his gesture, though he did use a DVD of the same game to support his view that Liverpool players were not getting a fair crack of the whip from referees.

Suárez’s absence against Newcastle makes it more likely that Andy Carroll will start against his former club, though Dalglish refused to confirm as much on Wednesday and insisted everyone in the first team, not just his £35m centre‑forward, needed to take responsibility for scoring more goals.

Carroll started the last game against Blackburn Rovers but was unable to get on to the scoresheet despite two or three decent chances in the 1-1 draw. Dalglish has made no secret of the fact that he finds questions about Carroll’s low scoring rate and limited appearances tiresome though he at least conceded it was a legitimate subject for discussion ahead of a game against Newcastle.

“Anyone who started the game against Blackburn has a chance of starting the next game,” the Liverpool manager said. “We haven’t picked up any more injuries and we are all in good shape. Andy is no different from anyone else, he’s got to earn the right to be picked. It makes no difference to me that Newcastle are our next opponents, but Andy is a Geordie lad, he’ll always be a Newcastle fan. All I can ask is that he always gives his best when he plays for us, and I think he’s done that.

“Since he came here he’s gone about his work very well. He is adapting well to the change, and fortunately for Andy we have got much greater belief in him here than others seem to have. I don’t think he’s short of self-belief, there’s no evidence for that, though there is evidence that everyone in the team is short of goals.

“If you go through the list this year from last year, everybody’s down. Maxi might be a wee bit in front, that’s all. We look on it as a collective job and we’ll get ourselves going. Everyone in the team is capable of scoring goals, it’s not just down to the strikers. We have never been prolific scorers at any time since I came back, but I believe we’ll get there. We’ve got a huge part of it right over the past year, we just need the finishing touches.”

Alan Pardew’s team come to Anfield equipped with Demba Ba, one striker who has not been stuttering in front of goal this season. Newcastle already appeared to have done better than Liverpool out of the Carroll transfer without picking up a ready made replacement on a free, one whose goals this season have more than satisfactorily covered the loss of the player sold on the last day of the January transfer window. Pardew may not have got his hands on as much of the £35m as he would have liked, but in terms of a playing replacement for Carroll, Ba has been inspired.

“He’s scored 14 league goals this season, so with a guy like that up front I imagine Newcastle will come here trying to attack,” Dalglish said. “Newcastle took a chance on Ba when he failed a medical at Stoke and they have been rewarded. I think he has been the pick of their signings this year but he’s not the only good player they have brought in. I’ve been impressed with Yohan Cabaye and a few others as well.”

LiverpoolLuis SuárezNewcastle UnitedThe FAPremier League 2011-12Premier LeaguePaul Wilsonguardian.co.uk

• United coach indicates Liverpool should accept ban
• Kenny Dalglish concerned about crowd reaction to Suárez

Sir Alex Ferguson has broken his silence on the Luis Suárez affair, describing the Liverpool striker’s eight-match ban for racially abusing Patrice Evra as “the right decision” and indicating that the Anfield club should accept the guilty verdict.

Liverpool’s vigorous defence of the Uruguayan, including the controversial decision to warm up for their game at Wigan in Suárez T-shirts, has led to widespread criticism throughout the game. Ferguson was not willing to talk about Liverpool’s protest statement, in which they described Evra as “not reliable” and called on the Football Association to issue a separate charge against the Manchester United defender, but he made clear that the Premier League champions felt vindicated.

“Our support of Patrice was obvious right from the word go and that’s still the same. The matter is over and I think we’re satisfied that they [the FA's independent commission] found the right decision. This wasn’t about Manchester United and Liverpool at all. It was nothing to do with that. This was an individual situation where one person was racially abused.”

Liverpool maintain that was not the case, despite Suárez reportedly admitting using the word “negro”, and are now waiting for the commission chairman, Paul Goulding QC, to deliver his full written findings before deciding whether to lodge an appeal.

That risks an even longer ban and Ferguson drew a parallel with the way United reacted when Evra was banned for four matches in 2008 for becoming embroiled in a post-match fight with Sam Bethell, a Chelsea groundsman. The club, he pointed out, had accepted the verdict.

“Patrice got that suspension for the incident down at Chelsea when no one was there, just a groundsman and our fitness coach. He got a four-match ban and we had to wait two weeks for the evidence to come through. We were quite astounded at that. A four-match ban? We thought it was well over the top for a trivial incident. But it happened and there’s nothing you can do about it, you know.”

The insinuation was that Liverpool should accept Suárez’s guilt but there is no sign of that from Anfield, with Kenny Dalglish maintaining he had no regrets over the T-shirt protest and aggressive wording of their statement.

“The club have issued a statement and the players have made their statement both visually and verbally,” said Dalglish. “The statement couldn’t have caused anybody any trouble. I don’t think the players have caused any trouble with the FA either with their statement or by their support with the T-shirts. If we are not in any trouble, we will just leave it at that before we do get into any trouble.”

Dalglish said “it might be weeks” before the commission’s findings are made public and believes the verdict and the reasons for it should have been released simultaneously. In the vacuum, the Liverpool manager fears opposition crowds will declare open season on Suárez, as was the case at the DW Stadium on Wednesday.

He said: “I wouldn’t think it is helpful to anybody that it [the verdict] is done before we have seen the written documents. If that’s the way they have always done it then we cannot complain. I wouldn’t know because I have never been involved in anything like this before.

“They [the Football Association] run the game; we don’t, do we? Whether you agree with it is another matter. In another walk of life, they would have walked away and waited until they had it ready. But this is what happened. I think where they have to be more supportive is the reaction from people – and the antagonism of the crowds – towards Luis. That is the great problem.”

The Liverpool manager believes the fallout from the complex case will be far-reaching for the FA. “It would be helpful to everyone if someone gave us some guidelines about what you can and cannot say,” he argued. Yet despite his concerns over the hostility towards Suárez, who is also facing an improper conduct charge for allegedly making an offensive gesture towards Fulham supporters at Craven Cottage on 5 December, Dalglish is adamant the 24-year-old can handle the scrutiny.

“Obviously he would be better off without it, but he is a strong enough character and he has handled it very well up to now so I wouldn’t expect him to show anything other than total strength. If Luis is fit and well, he will be considered for the matches until such time that he is under sanction.”

Ferguson is clearly unimpressed with the lengths to which Liverpool have gone, including Dalglish’s decision to wear a Suaárez T-shirt during a television interview on Wednesday. “I don’t need to talk about it,” he said, before adding pointedly: “I’m happy with how I run my club.”

The United manager was asked whether he fears it will worsen the rivalry between the two clubs. “This is the biggest derby game in the country,” he replied. “It’s never needed anything to light the powder keg; it’s always there.”

Sir Alex FergusonLuis SuárezManchester UnitedLiverpoolAndy HunterDaniel Taylorguardian.co.uk

All the action from the Liberty Stadium and Anfield on a sombre day, when football was overshadowed by the death of Wales manager Gary Speed