O'Neill considers appealing as Villa boss insists Brad tried to get out of way

Bad Brad? Friedel appears to try to get out of the way as Torres advances Spanish fly: Torres goes over with Friedel still hunched No mercy: Referee Atkinson produces the red cardAston Villa boss Martin O'Neill is mulling an appeal against Brad Friedel's red card at Liverpool.Suspension would bring an end to the U.S. keeper's Premier League appearance record.Friedel was sent off for being judged to have brought down Fernando Torres for a penalty on the way to Villa's 5-0 defeat at Anfield on Sunday.Do you agree with the sending off? Leave your comments below.He has been handed a one-match ban and would miss the trip to Manchester United next month - ending a run of 182 successive top-flight games.O'Neill feels Friedel was trying to avoid Torres rather than bring the Spain striker down and he may try to get referee Martin Atkinson's decision overturned.'I've seen the sending off from a better angle and, from Brad's point of view, I don't think he's gone out and made a deliberate attempt to upend him,' said  O'Neill.'In fact, quite the opposite. When Torres touched the ball on, Brad realised he wasn't going to get it and actually made himself  smaller.'The fact is that the referee interpreted it as a penalty and added the sending off on top of that.' Flying high: Gerrard leads Anfield romp, but boss Rafa still can't raise a smile Liverpool 5 Aston Villa 0: Rafa in control as rampant Reds close gap to a pointJAMIE REDKNAPP'S WEEKEND WATCH: United are losing their wayHATCHET MAN: Friedel's red card at Anfield showed a referee at his officious worst ASTON VILLA FC NEWS FROM ACROSS THE NET  

Source: Daily_Mail