Steven Gerrard threw himself to the ground as soon as he got in to the box, the “big and hard” scouser apparently not as tough as his fans would like to think he is. Tony Hibert kept out of the referee’s way, waiting to receive the yellow card Mark Clattenburg had in his hand. Then Steven Gerrard steamed in, clearly protesting that a yellow card wasn’t enough. Alarmingly, the referee put the yellow card back in his pocket and pulled out a red card, sending Hibert off.
In the same game, Jamie Carragher was all over Jolean Lescott, put the ref saw nothing, not once, but twice. Dirk Kuyt also came in at knee height on Phil Neville, both feet off the ground, but again, Clattenbury let it go. Kuyt confessed after the game that he should have been sent off, but I suppose he wasn’t complaining considering he went on to score the winning goal.
This season, it seems as though an equally incompetent referee has been put in charge of the match, much to Sir Alex Ferguson’s surprise.
“I looked at the Chelsea game and there wasn’t a bad tackle in the match,” said Ferguson. “But he’s been rewarded, he’s got Everton v Liverpool tomorrow. That will be fun and games!”
Louis Saha, who has already got a full 90 minute stretch under his belt, will be making his first appearance in a Liverpool derby, but is confident of the result.
United face another physical battle with Bolton today, but Ferguson claims there’s nothing to worry about on our part. “We don’t have a problem with discipline,” he added. “We always play good football.”
