Football - Liverpool FC: Steven Gerrard escapes FA punishment over Brown clash

Mar 17 2010 by David Randles, Liverpool Daily Post

Football - Liverpool FC:  STEVEN GERRARD will not face any action from the Football Association following an altercation with Portsmouth’s Michael Brown.

The Liverpool captain appeared to hit the midfielder in the back of the neck with his forearm during a collision in the second half of the Reds’ 4-1 win over Pompey at Anfield on Monday night.

It is understood the FA sought clarification from referee Stuart Attwell yesterday to determine whether they would pursue any further action against Gerrard.

The official saw the incident at the time but chose not to caution Gerrard, choosing instead to talk to the player after awarding Portsmouth a free-kick.

FA guidelines are not to punish players retrospectively if the match official sees the alleged offence.

Gerrard also escaped punishment from the FA last week after reports he made a two-fingered gesture to referee Andre Marriner during Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat at Wigan.

Again, Marriner admitted seeing the incident but said it did not warrant any further action.

Victory against the Premier League’s bottom side meant Liverpool bounced back from back-to-back defeats, against Wigan and Lille in the Europa League, with the return leg against the French side on Thursday.

Lyon manager Claude Puel has tipped the French club to finish the job and knock Liverpool out of the competition tomorrow night.

Puel guided Lyon to a 2-1 win at Anfield in the Champions League in October and believes his former club Lille can build on the advantage of their 1-0 win from last week’s last 16, first leg.

“I am sure that Lille has the means to win at Anfield,” said Puel.

“I don’t know how Liverpool will approach this match though.

“The Champions League was more attractive to them and this is not the same thing.

“In the first leg they did not know as much about the Lille team as they do now.”

Lyon progressed from Liverpool’s Champions League group alongside Fiorentina with the Reds dropping into the Europa League after coming third.

Puel is full of praise for the Liverpool supporters, however, who he believes will create a special night against Lille.

“It is an extraordinary atmosphere,” he said.

“A kind of mythical place, not to be missed.

“It is not hostile, there is a lot of fair play.

“What is amazing is that despite a difficult season for the team the fans are always behind them.”

Meanwhile, Ryan Babel has tipped Liverpool to progress to the quarter-finals of the Europa League.

The Dutchman believes the win over Portsmouth is just the boost needed to overcome Lille and provide more confidence ahead of Sunday’s trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United.

“I think we had a point to prove in terms of getting a result against Portsmouth,” he said.

“I don’t think the performance at Lille was as bad as some people think but here we definitely showed character and passion, and hopefully we can now look forward.

“If you can score an early goal then the confidence raises straight away.

“Then when a second comes everyone in the team feels confident and can play in a more relaxed way.

“It would definitely be nice to win at Old Trafford like last year.

“Hopefully Thursday will be good and then we’ll go to Old Trafford full of confidence.”