When Rob Styles gave that penalty after Florent Malouda ran into Steve Finnan with the ball long gone, right in front of the referee - it was grounds enough for a good old-fashioned lynching.

As the referee Styles has taken all the blame for the decision, but he’s not the only one at fault. Well, you can try putting it on Malouda and calling Chelsea cheaters but the latter is not true as a rule and at the end of the day it’s Styles who had to give the decision. And he gave the wrong one.

Interestingly enough, he made the right decision when he booked Frank Lampard for a late kick at Fernando Alonso, but he got it blindingly wrong in booking Michael Essien for his first challenge, even though Arvalo Arbeloa played for the foul. Maybe Styles needs to get his eyesight checked because he wrongly interpreted several events that occurred in front of him but some distance away.

'The whole protesting thing, especially en masse, is getting tiresome. On one hand we have referees getting crucial decisions wrong and on the other we have players acting like spoilt brats'


Oh, and there was the game, too.

Liverpool played well overall, especially in the first half. They defended really well and went forward with confidence - something that they should be doing a lot more often. Chelsea, on the other hand, looked ruffled at times and despite Tal Ben-Haim’s calm presence and John Obi Mikel doing well in midfield, they lacked the confidence of Ricardo Carvalho and Essien’s midfield drive.

The Torres goal followed poor positioning by Essien. The Spaniard ran into the space left open and Steven Gerrard slotted in a beautiful pass. The second mistake, if you can call it a mistake, was made by Ben-Haim as he stopped, thinking he had handled Torres’s run. But Torres started again, got the extra yard of space and gave Petr Cech no chance.

Liverpool deserved that goal and while Chelsea weren’t exactly chasing, they were easily second-best throughout the game.

For all of Liverpool’s positivity and grit on the day, I think they should have scored a second goal - they have to channel their passion into more penetration.

The whole protesting thing, especially en masse, is getting tiresome. On one hand we have referees getting crucial decisions wrong and on the other we have players acting like spoilt brats. The people who should be held responsible for this are those who make the rules, and that is FIFA and the Premier League. The ref is just following the rules – but referees don’t get enough support nor do they have enough time to get all their decisions right.

Refs have no help whatsoever, and while the game suffers and the officials get mobbed, threatened and abused, the people responsible for the game are not doing enough.

Anyway, this result means that the top four looks like this:

1. Manchester City (9)
2. Chelsea (7)
3. Wigan Athletic (6)
4. Everton (6)

Liverpool are tied with Arsenal and Blackburn on points (the three teams occupy seventh to ninth positions and are separated by goal difference, while Manchester United are fifth from bottom.

And it’s just the first week of the Premier League 07-08 season...

Ahmed Bilal is the owner and editor of www.soccerlens.com