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Feb 05
2009

Chelsea Favoured by FA If Bosingwa Incident Anything To Go By

Posted by Andrew McNair in Manchester CityEPLChelsea

Andrew McNair

Referee Mike Riley and Chelsea's Frank Lampard may have kissed and made up after Sunday's red card incident that cost Chelsea any chance of a point at Anfield but that controversy is just the tip of the iceberg.

Underneath lies an inconsistent Football Association incident review system that has apparently just looked favourably on Chelsea.

No one has any issue with the fact Frank Lampard's red card has been rescinded as most would agree it wasn't a red card, but my point lies with a certain Jose Bosingwa and his late Kung Fu kick that went unpunished as Chelsea lost 2-0 to title rivals Liverpool.

The incident took place at the corner flag, right in front of the assistant referee who has more than enough authority to get the Portuguese player sent off.

Amazingly, after an apparent review of the incident, it was decided that no further action would be taken. This would have been all well and good and we might even have forgotten about the incident had the FA not charged Shaun Wright-Philips with violent conduct just a day later.

Where is the consistency?

The Manchester City winger has been charged for kicking out at Rory Delap during an incident which saw Stoke City's Delap sent off for kicking the ball at Wright-Philips. Wright- Philips lost his head and kicked out but the Martin Atkinson only red carded Delap, despite clearly seeing the incident. Atkinson was just metres away.

Wright-Philips deserves to be charged as he retaliated and in the laws of the game, he deserved a red card but surely so does Chelsea's Bosingwa?

At least Wright-Philips was provoked, Bosingwa's challenge was malicious and unprovoked, which makes it far worse in my eyes.

Therefore, what conclusions can we draw from the FA's actions this week?

It is clear they don't want to upset Chelsea again, so much so in fact, they are prepared to make a mockery of their own disciplinary system.

We are pretty young when we learned that two wrongs do not make a right and Lampard's red card was wrong but ignoring Bosingwa's wrong doings doesn't even the score in anyone's eyes.

And definitely not where Manchester City and Shaun Wright-Philips are concerned.

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