It was unfortunate that the midweek 4-4 clash between Chelsea and Tottenham left everyone talking about that incident - the one between Ashley Cole and referee Mike Riley.

Ashley Cole’s tackle on Alan Hutton of Tottenham Hotspurs on Wednesday was outrageous and his spoilt child in a playground routine with Mike Riley, was despicable. This is not the first time the arrogant and obnoxious, and in my opinion overrated, Ashley Cole has bulldozed a player down with what he has described as simply a late challenge; and it is not the first time Cole as acted like a spoilt brat when being disciplined. Hearing Mike Riley trying to diffuse the situation there is no doubt in my mind Ashley Cole should have been given a red card.

Whether Ashley Cole was truly sorry or was advised to apologise for his behaviour, it was the right thing to do, and that should be applauded.

So, come Sunday’s two Premier League games between the top four teams that was to be beamed by satellite around the world, I guessed that all four managers would have told their players to be cautious as to their behavioural problems and that referees would possibly be under instruction to deal with any similar situations.

Something I noticed during the Manchester United - Liverpool match, was how Wayne Rooney quietly went about his business. Not once do I remember him giving the referee a barrage of Anglo-Saxon words with a face as red as his shirt, which unfortunately is quite common behaviour for this world class player. Instead it was Javier Mascherano, the quiet little Argentine pitball that appeared to be overly pumped up from the moment he stepped out into the Theatre Of Dreams. Unfortunately for Mascherano and Liverpool, today it would be a nightmare!

Early on, Mascherano was rightfully booked for a late tackle on Paul Scholes and on several occasions appeared to be giving referee Steve Bennett verbal abuse. This continued throughout the first half of the game until Fernando Torres won a free-kick for a bad challenge.

Though Torres won the free-kick he also got shown a yellow card for his reminstrations with Steve Bennett over a series of bad tackles he was suffering from the Manchester United players. At this point, the game was being controlled very well by referee Steve Bennett so there was no need for Mascherano to run 20 yards or so towards Steve Bennett to protest about the Torres booking.

As with Mike Riley and the Ashley Cole on Wednesday, Steve Bennett appeared to give Javier Mascherano a few warnings that if he didn’t calm down he would be sent off. Mascherano didn’t heed the warning, which left Steve Bennett no choice but to show him a red card. The correct decision in my opinion.

Seeing how pumped up Mascherano was, surely it was down to the captain, Steven Gerrard and other Liverpool players to tell Mascherano to cool off or he would be letting the whole side down.

What was frustrating was that Liverpool had already gone 1-0 down by the time Steve Bennett sent Javier Mascherano off. They needed to all be playing together as a solid team if they were to claw themselves back into what was actually not a very exciting game to watch. But with ten men, and arguably one of their best players sent off the field, it became even easier for Manchester United to win all three points.

In the post-match interview manager Rafa Benitez was trying to suggest Mascherano was a victim of the whole affair and that he was only asking why his team mate had been booked. Can you imagine it? ‘

Oh, excuse me Mr Bennett, sir. But I was just wondering why you thought it necessary to book my dear friend Mr Torres. After all, he has been the victim of several bad challenges. Wouldn’t you agree?

For this stance, I believe Rafa Benitez should also receive punishment.  No longer should the game of football be tarnished by abusive behaviour, lies and deceipt.

Let’s hope the Ashley Cole & Javier Mascherano incidents this week will be a turning point.

There are two things I would like to eradicate from football more than anything else - abusive language and behaviour and diving!