Graham Poll: Carragher was lucky to avoid a straight red

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. Floored: Nani (centre) lies in agony whilst Carragher (right) looks onBut 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. Graham Poll: FA should give Fergie leeway for reacting in heat of momentGraham Poll: Referee Atkinson got the big calls wrong and that cost United Graham Poll's official line: 'Where video evidence exists why not use it?'  Explore more:People: Jamie Carragher, Graham Poll, Maxi Rodriguez Places: Liverpool

Source: Daily_Mail