Mascherano

[Guest]

exactly.

Masher had mouthed off, and you could see he had told Bennett to **** off at one stage...but in the card incident he said nothing other than, "what for, what's happening?"

Bennett was too quick to pull the card out the second time.

It was when Bennett wasn't looking. I can't see him getting away with it if he saw that.

I also think it was a tad unfair but Mascher should have kept out of it full stop. He should know that his role and the way he plays is bound to attract yellow cards galore.

[AFII]

Javier Mascherano faces FA wrath after crazy red card protest
By David Maddock 24/03/2008

Javier Mascherano is facing a disrepute charge and a lengthy ban after completely losing control at Old Trafford yesterday.

In disgraceful scenes, the Liverpool midfielder chased the referee and refused to leave the pitch after being sent off by Steve Bennett for two yellow card offences.

He was eventually calmed down by manager Rafa Benitez and coach Alex Miller, but the FA will investigate his reaction. The player was eventually dragged away and down the tunnel by Reds physio Rob Pryce and teammate Peter Crouch.

Mascherano already misses next week's crucial encounter with Everton with the one-game ban for his two bookable offences, but any disrepute charge - which will not be contested by Liverpool - would put him out of the visit to Arsenal the weekend after, and could lead to a three-match ban.
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Liverpool boss Benitez said: "Javier knows he made a mistake. He cannot believe he was sent off for merely asking a question. He went to the referee and said only: 'What's happening?' Nothing more, and he was really, really surprised to be sent off just for asking.

"But he did not know the official. Javier could not understand and that is why he reacted as he did.

"But he spoke to me and he said he knows it was a mistake with that referee. He is a fantastic professional who has played in top games all around the world and he does not know how he can be sent off for asking.

"It is difficult to explain.

The referee said it was dissent, but is asking dissent?"

Benitez was privately furious with Bennett who he believes did not offer any protection to his striker Fernando Torres, despite the Spaniard being singled out for some heavy treatment.

The striker was even booked for pointing out he had been constantly fouled.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footba...9520-20361163/

[AFII]

So Masch can get banned for more games but they didn't even bother to do ban Cole, Lampard and Terry even that they could have done the same against them that they now probably will do against Masch.



Same rules for everyone eh

[Harv]

if Bennett had of faced him instead of walking away like a **** then Masher wouldnt of had to try chase him. He clearly wanted to ask him why.....he wasnt going to attack him, like the press seem to be alluding too

If he gets a further ban, and Cole gets away then it just proves the double standards

[Skillz]

**** it Civil War, let's **** em all.

nb not civil war for me, I'm Aussie, but **** it I'm in. How dare these pricks use us as a scapegoat for Chelsea. Not after what happened at Anfield earlier this year.

They can all go **** themselves.

[AFII]

Excellent article by Maddock....

Javier Mascherano's only crime is stupidity
David Maddock 24/03/2008

The debate will rage endlessly about Javier Mascherano's contribution to this ridiculous pantomime, but there is one thing he is indisputably guilty of - stupidity.

After being harshly booked by an officious, overweening referee who was clearly looking to put himself right at the centre of any drama, the Liverpool midfielder should have read the 100ft warning signs that Steve Bennett constructed around Old Trafford.

He was sent off not because he did anything especially outrageous, but simply because he did not sense the obvious climate change after a week in which football said "enough is enough."

And he compounded that stupidity with a preposterous reaction to his dismissal.

The Argentinian is entitled to ask why walking slowly towards an official with a smile on his face while posing the simple question "what's happening?" was enough to be sent off. He was entitled to ask what crime team-mate Fernando Torres had committed to be booked seconds earlier.

There is nothing in the rules of the game that prevents either enquiry, so long as it is done politely and without aggression or blatant dissent.

But should he really have put himself in a situation that allowed Bennett to show just what a weak, inconsistent referee he really is? No, not if he wanted his side to win this game. And make no mistake, no matter what argument is used in defence of Mascherano, he cost his side any chance of victory.

Bennett had been criticised heavily in the week because he did nothing as the fourth official at Tottenham on Wednesday when Ashley Cole brought the game into disrepute. This was his response and it was all too depressingly predictable.

It is all very well to say that players have a responsibility to show respect - which undoubtedly they do - but referees have a responsibility to the game as a spectacle.

Does anyone truly think that Bennett was right to reduce the showcase match in English football to a farce just because a player asked him a question with a smile on his face?

But in saying all that, Mascherano should have been aware that Bennett is the one official in the Premier League who you can't conduct a dialogue with. He should have realised he is a rubbish referee who completely lost control.

And most certainly he should not have responded to his dismissal by losing his self-control and offering the chance to the Football Association to make an example of him.

Not only did his stupidity cost Liverpool any chance of winning this game, it will rule him out of meetings with Everton and Arsenal - two crucial games for his side.

If he was harshly treated in being sent off, then he let himself down badly by his reaction - and that is the last thing the English game needs right now.

He is sure to have the book thrown at him...and in the current climate to leave himself open to that is stupid in the extreme.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footba...9520-20361156/

[AFII]

The rumours in the press is that he will get either a three, four or even a five game ban.

[Guest]

We should all stop whining IMO. The game is gone, we've lost. Don't give ammunition to these manc *******s by crying foul of everything we felt wasn't right last night.

[Steve101]

exactly.

Masher had mouthed off, and you could see he had told Bennett to **** off at one stage...but in the card incident he said nothing other than, "what for, what's happening?"

Bennett was too quick to pull the card out the second time.

Problem is, Bennet has always been to quick to dish cards out, and whatever the rights and wrongs of this situation (i happpen to think it was way over the top), masher should have been stopped well before he got anywhere near the ref. Steven Gerrard didnt do a captains job in trying to calm him down for the other 4 or 5 times he was bending bennets ear. He should have thrown himself in front of masher if it needed it. someone like keane would have. Just to balalnce things out, i cant for the life of me understand the yellow card for ferdinand. bennet simply lost it, a poor ref.

[Harv]

The rumours in the press is that he will get either a three, four or even a five game ban.

thats absurd. What did he do wrong?

This is bull****, and the club should fight it to the death. He has done absolutely nothing wrong

[Harv]

We should all stop whining IMO. The game is gone, we've lost. Don't give ammunition to these manc *******s by crying foul of everything we felt wasn't right last night.

we lost the game, but we are now most probably going to lose a player for 4 games.......should we just forget about that??

He is an integral member of our side, and the FA will quietly be smirking from ear to ear at the thought of ****ing us over

[AFII]

We should all stop whining IMO. The game is gone, we've lost. Don't give ammunition to these manc *******s by crying foul of everything we felt wasn't right last night.

If the we do that, or the club do that, then our players will just get treated in the same as they do now by the refs, PL and the FA, very bad.

It works if you whine, Arsenal, ManU and Chelsea are perfect examples of that. It don't work if you don't whine, we are a perfect example of that.

If you want to win the league then you must whine or else you are ****ed, not our fault, it's the way it works.

[Alan Key]

thats absurd. What did he do wrong?

This is bull****, and the club should fight it to the death. He has done absolutely nothing wrong

Did you see the incident? He wouldn't leave the pitch after the sending off. First Alonso, then Stevie and finally Rafa had to tell him to calm down and get off. 4 minutes later he was walking down the tunnel.

[Ataturk]

'Dissent is dissent'

FA to throw book at Mascherano


· Midfielder refuses to go until Benítez intervenes
· United move five points clear after stylish victory

Andy Hunter at Old Trafford
Monday March 24, 2008
The Guardian


Mascherano argues with referee Steve Bennett after being shown a second yellow card for dissent. Photograph: Richard Heathcote/Getty.


Liverpool's Javier Mascherano is likely to face a Football Association charge and an increased suspension for his furious reaction to being sent off at Manchester United yesterday. The midfielder was dismissed in the 43rd minute as United won 3-0 and increased their lead in the Premier League to five points.
United's dominant performance was overshadowed by an injury to Wayne Rooney which may result in his absence from England's friendly against France on Wednesday and by the extraordinary loss of self-control by Mascherano.

Article continues

Already booked for a 10th-minute lunge on Paul Scholes, the 23-year-old Argentinian raced 20 yards to question Steve Bennett's decision to book Fernando Torres for dissent and received an identical punishment from the referee. The red card for two bookable offences means he is suspended for Sunday's derby with Everton but his reaction, refusing to leave the pitch and haranguing Bennett before being ushered down the tunnel by Peter Crouch and a physio, invited further punishment.
Only last week the FA appealed for greater respect for referees after Ashley Cole's insolence to Mike Riley when being booked at Tottenham Hotspur and it can charge Mascherano with improper conduct despite his dismissal. A guilty verdict would attract an extended suspension and possible fine for a player who had been integral to Liverpool's recent revival.

"He knows he made a mistake," said Rafael Benítez. "But to have that decision in a big game like this is difficult to understand. I spoke to him in Spanish. He kept telling me, 'I didn't say anything,' but I had to tell him it was over, finished. Mascherano is a fantastic professional and has been playing at the maximum level for years. He did not understand why he had been sent off. I just told

him, 'It's finished.'"

The Liverpool manager had to placate Mascherano after team-mates and coaches failed to curb the midfielder's rising anger at Bennett, who had been the fourth official at White Hart Lane last Wednesday. "It was a mistake to try to ask the referee having already been booked. He doesn't know the referees," added Benítez. "The player told me that he was asking what happened, and Ryan Babel told me the same, and to get sent off for that made him really, really surprised. He could not understand why. The player knows he made a mistake but in this kind of big game it is wrong to leave a team with just 10 players because one of them asked why."

Asked whether he feared the FA would make an example of Mascherano, Benítez said: "The player was only asking. I don't think to ask is a big problem."

Sir Alex Ferguson took a different view, saying the referee had no option but to dismiss the midfielder. "Dissent is dissent. I don't know why Mascherano came from central midfield to argue with the referee. With all the things that have happened this week with Ashley Cole, there has been a lot of attention on dissent and this was dissent."

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interesting comments from fergie there. fact is, they come weeks after some very shocking comments he made about referees in this country. for my money, ferguson and his assistant should have had a touchline ban for what they said.

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Ferguson also directed his wrath at Keith Hackectt, thegeneral manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Board.

"Hackett has got a lot to answer for in this country," said the Scot. "He's not doing his job properly.

"He should be assessed like everyone else is assessed. I'm assessed as a manager, the players are assessed, referees are assessed.

"Martin Atkinson will referee next week, no problem, but his performance today should not be accepted in our game.

"I agree with Sepp Blatter, the standards in our game as opposed to the Continent - the tolerance level - is behind Europe. I think it's a big problem."

After seeing his side's hopes of repeating their 1999 Treble extinguished, Ferguson said: "The game was decided by the decision not to give us a penalty.

"They had great confidence to hang on knowing the referee was on their side.

"Lassana Diarra had eight or nine fouls in the match. It's incredible. I've got to agree with Arsene Wenger. Someone is going to get a serious injury in our game. He's had one himself with Eduardo.

"It's not a nice thing to talk about, but the treatment Ronaldo is getting I'm worried about him.

"Keith Hackett is in a nice, comfortable position and does nothing really. I don't think he makes a contribution to the referees' performances in our country.

"That should be addressed. He's not doing his job properly.

"That guy (Atkinson) will go and referee next week no problem. You see his favourites always get the games and that's disappointing."

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the man is outrageous. its almost funny. its ok for him to accuse the referee's association of deliberately influencing a game and so far as far as i can tell he's getting away scot free.

what a ****ing joke.

[Guest]

we lost the game, but we are now most probably going to lose a player for 4 games.......should we just forget about that??

He is an integral member of our side, and the FA will quietly be smirking from ear to ear at the thought of ****ing us over

Forgetting it, no. But we should move on now, especially if there isn't any chance to fight out Mascher's disrepute charge. I don't know the rules, but I think he slightly pushed the referee too. (Not sure about that)

If the we do that, or the club do that, then our players will just get treated in the same as they do now by the refs, PL and the FA, very bad.

It works if you whine, Arsenal, ManU and Chelsea are perfect examples of that. It don't work if you don't whine, we are a perfect example of that.

If you want to win the league then you must whine or else you are ****ed, not our fault, it's the way it works.

Mascher was 50 metres away when Torres got booked. Why did he get involved I don't know ? He was probably right to question the referee, but not under the circumstances. He should know how Bennett is, so he should have acted in a way not to incur his wrath. Even Rafa said Mascher was wrong.