Mascherano should be held accountable

I acknowledge that I risk the fury of my fellow Liverpool fans by saying this, but it has to be said. Javier Mascherano gets sent off for arguing with the referee.

Those who want respect back in the game want his ban to be lengthened, pointing out that Mascherano was quite hot tempered in his protests, and it wasn’t just one incident of madness that led to the second yellow. But Rafa Benitez is absolutely right in saying that all Mascherano was doing was asking why Torres was being booked, despite having had lumps kicked out of him by Vidic and Ferdinand? Both of whom who play for a team, who’s manager wanted more protection for his best players. Maybe Benitez didn’t see fit to warn his players about their conduct.

After all, in terms of hounding the referee, Liverpool are not he worst offenders, and maybe he didn’t think the players needed to be told. Or maybe he didn’t know that Steve Bennett is one of those referee who is not adverse to the media limelight, and does like to make himself the centre of attention – this leads to an inflated ego, which would have undoubtedly have taken a blow by Mascherano’s protests which were, on occasion, slightly sarcastic.

Either way, what is done is done, and we have lost out most important player (in my mind), for the Merseyside derby. So now I reach the part this is bound to cause some discontent.

If the reason for Mascherano being sent off for his behaviour, then surely he has to be made an example of? The FA cannot let this opportunity slip, to clean up the game in a department that sorely needed some improvement. Many people have suggested the method used in rugby, where the captain is only allowed to talk to the referee, and Barnet FC adopted this, and earned a shed-load of brownie points from everyone who follows the game.

Instead of acting retrospectively, why not ensure that only the skipper can talk about a referee’s decisions? Perhaps the FA don’t like to show that the game needs help from other sports to clean it up (who are they kidding?) Anyway, I digress. Mascherano’s ban should be made to 3 games at the most. Maybe then your Ashley Coles, John Terrys, and Paolo Di Canios of this world will think twice about confronting the referee, no matter how pompous the man in black might be. They have already charged the combative Argentinean, and should now follow it up.

We as Liverpool fans should take the blow on the chin. He will probably be out for the Arsenal game as well, which would be a sterner test of our resources.

But this brings forth another question. What if Javier Mascherano didn’t get sent off? I know its all ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ but what if he had got a yellow for protesting, but had not got a yellow for a foul tackle? Would everyone be making a deal about it? The evil had still been done, he had argued with the referee, but he had not got red. And what if he had got a red, but the other way around? What if he had got booked for protest first, and the tackle second? These pundits would just say that his first booking was stupid. Would the FA seek to charge him with improper conduct? Probably not.

And another thing, Mascherano gets sent off for two yellow cards, one of which is for improper conduct. The FA then act to charge Mascherano and possibly add to his ban. Ashley Cole gets a yellow card for a vile display to the referee at White Hart Lane, but does not get sent off.

The FA immediately comes out to show its helplessness, by saying that they cannot re-referee games. But if Mike Riley gave Cole a yellow card for a horrendous tackle, and not his improper conduct, then where was it inserted into the rule book, that improper conduct deserved a yellow card? Was it brought in under top secret conditions, in the space of a week? So now after all, arguing with the ref warrants a yellow card? Im sure that rule has always been there. So why can’t the FA go back, and charge Ashley Cole with improper conduct as well?

It may be re-refereeing games, but if the FA want to clear the game up, then that’s what they have to do, instead of hiding behind pathetic laws, that eventually, do nothing to help the game, other than bring it into disrepute. I don’t know, maybe it’s the football culture, or maybe it’s the laws, but it does need help from other sports, or wherever it can find it.