By
Graham Poll
Floored: Nani (centre) lies in agony whilst Carragher
(right) looks on
Jamie Carragher escaped a red card late in the first
half at Anfield for a very poor tackle but I could see why Phil
Dowd showed only a yellow.
At first viewing, at full speed, it was difficult to detect the
severity of the challenge on Nani and slow motion often makes
things look worse.
But it should have been a red and the home side could well have
been reduced to nine when, moments later, Maxi Rodriguez caught
Rafael da Silva with a very high, studs-up challenge.
This time Dowd should certainly have seen the challenge as an
unfair one but he played on and Rafael continued, with momentum and
anger, and sent Lucas flying with a poor challenge of his own.
Calm down: Liverpool pair Meireles (far left) and
Suarez (far right) try and restrain Rafael (centre)
Liverpool players swarmed around demanding red, as
United players appeared to have done after the Carragher challenge,
and that mass dissent was the only disappointing aspect of a good
game.
If Dowd had seen, and punished, the Rodriguez challenge he could
have avoided the recrimination that followed; had he seen Luis
Suarez pull Rafael’s hair in the melee, Liverpool could have had
another player dismissed.
It was a pity Dowd missed those few incidents because he
otherwise refereed well.
