Rob Styles made a mistake on Sunday, admittedly a bad one, but when it comes down to it all he committed was a human error.
I've got no doubt that Liverpool will benefit from similar human errors this season, as will every other team that plays football.
In my opinion, Styles is not a very good referee but he is certainly not biased or bent and he doesn't deserve to be the victim of crass innuendo simply because he is "on the board of a company which once did some work on Roman Abramovich's driveway".
The hysteria which now greets every single high profile mistake made by a Premiership referee is now well out of control.
And it isn't the fans who are driving it, it is the media which is becoming increasingly bloodthirsty in its desire to create controversy after controversy.
All this does is undermine referees and make their already hugely difficult job even harder than it should be.
I was gutted when Styles gave that penalty on Sunday. Firstly, because I knew it was never a foul and secondly, because I knew Liverpool should have long since put the game to bed by then.
His intervention gave Chelsea the chance to grab a point they did not deserve but so did Xabi Alonso's glaring miss in front of the Kop just a matter of minutes earlier.
Perspective is needed here. Rob Styles did not cost Liverpool the game. He certainly has not cost them a shot at the title. All he is guilty of is making a mistake.
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Ando wrote...
I'll see if this is still here when we lose the title to 2 points to Chelsea eh Tony... ;-)
Posted by: Ando | August 21, 2007 3:06 PM