Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel has been officially charged with violent conduct, retrospectively, by the FA for stomping at David De Gea at the end of yesterday’s clash with Manchester United.
The FA released a statement leading with “Martin Skrtel has been charged by The FA for violent conduct following an on-field incident which was not seen by the match officials but caught on video.”
The incident happened in the dying seconds of the match as the defender raced into the penalty area to reach the ball, with Phil Jones challenging and goalkeeper De Gea sliding to smother it. Referee Martin Atkinson blew the whistle within seconds and took no further action.
The three-man panel, assembled to independently review video footage in such cases, unanimously decided that were the referee to have seen the incident it would have been a sending off offence.
Liverpool and Skrtel have until Tuesday, 6pm on 24 March 2015 to respond by either accepting or defending the charge. The charge warrants a three match ban, which would see the defender miss Arsenal at the Emirates, the FA Cup replay at Blackburn, and Newcastle at Anfield.
In yesterday’s post match comments, manager Brendan Rodgers defended Skrtel saying, “I think that it’s towards the end of the game – he’s been pushed upfield, but I don’t think [Skrtel] caught him with intent. I think he’s trying to nick the final contact on the ball, and if he does that then he probably gets a penalty, so he’s stretching.”
Should their be a punishment, it will force Rodgers to change the first choice defensive unit of Mamadou Sakho, Martin Skrtel, and Emre Can again, after all three just regained full fitness. Any change is complicated by questions about Dejan Lovren’s fitness, as he has been scratched – due to injury – from this week’s international duty with Croatia.
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