FROM the moment Steven Gerrard stepped on the pitch on Sunday you just knew the red mist had descended.

He was clearly smarting at not starting the game, had seen his team-mates not play with the passion he would have shown, and knew this was his last chance to play against Manchester United at Anfield.

You might say his red card was inevitable but I think it could have been avoided with just a bit smarter refereeing from Martin Atkinson.

As soon as he clattered into Juan Mata with his first poor challenge, Martin should have hit the whistle, dragged him to one side and said: “What do you think you’re playing at?”

He should have calmed Steven down, given him a few seconds to think straight, and remind him of his responsibilities on that pitch.

That’s where your awareness of players and the game should be kicking in. That situation could have been managed better and the whole thing could have been nipped in the bud.

Once Steven jogged away it was only a matter of time before he went in hard again.

There’s absolutely no doubt he deserved a dismissal for the foul on Ander Herrera a few seconds later and I think it was a great spot from the assistant, who appeared to advise Martin that it was a stamp.

I think in general the game was refereed well – you’ll always get big incidents to manage and the right decision was made to send Gerrard off.

Perhaps Phil Jones was a little bit lucky to only get a caution when he mistimed a challenge on Jordan Henderson. But I’m glad to see retrospective punishment was taken on Martin Skrtel too for a stamp on David De Gea.

Meanwhile, I see the YouTube clip of Callum Wilson getting a goal disallowed against Cardiff City has got nearly one million views online.

It doesn’t matter how many times I see it, I’ll never understand why it wasn’t allowed to stand by referee Lee Mason.

Wilson turns his back to the goalkeeper and stands still. The keeper could have taken a step to the side and cleared the ball but instead he drives it straight at the Bournemouth man, who turns round, collects the rebound and puts it in the net.

As far as I can see he did nothing wrong in law. But to add insult to injury he also got a caution for his troubles.

Sorry, but I think Lee will have to hold his hands up for that one and admit it was a bad call.

IF you think Steven Gerrard’s red card was quick, I went one better in 2007.

I remember refereeing a game between Sheffield United and Reading at the Madejski Stadium in the Premier League when ex-Manchester United winger Keith Gillespie came on as a substitute.

They were jostling around at a throw when Keith threw an elbow up into Stephen Hunt’s face.

I said: “What do you think you’re doing?”

But before I’d had chance to pull him to one side he went and did it again.

I had no choice but to give him a red card, which theoretically happened before play had even begun. I might be the only referee to dismiss a player after zero seconds.

Keith actually tweeted me the other week joking that his only disappointment was that his opponent had got back up off the floor. I had to laugh.

He’s sound as a pound, really, and I can’t remember having many more problems with him the whole time I refereed him.

Like the incident involving Gerrard it was quite out of character and I suppose you’ve got to accept that in a game as emotionally charged as football, these things can crop up.

EVERYONE knows Neil Swarbrick dropped a clanger at Manchester City on Saturday when he sent off West Brom’s Gareth McAuley instead of Craig Dawson.

It was a horrendous mistake, entirely avoidable for reasons I’ll go into later, and thankfully the suspension has now been passed on to the right person.

But first thing is first, I’d like to commend Neil for two things. Firstly, he came out at half time, admitted he’d got the wrong man, and apologised. That’s unheard of but a great step in the right direction.

Secondly, I thought his performance in the second half at the Etihad was outstanding.

To have put that mistake out of his mind and maintained his focus took a lot of doing. Some referees would have just crumbled.

I was at the game and from the first few seconds I worried he was not fully switched on.

The game had kicked off and Neil was still fiddling with his watch; it took him about 10 seconds to sort it out.

A minute later and he got caught in the wrong position for Dawson’s foul, he should have been five or 10 yards further forward.

I still think he had a good view. Dawson had a great big number 25 on his back and in that kind of instance you keep your eye on the player, run straight towards it thinking ‘it’s a red, it’s a red’ and show the card. No messing around.

But Neil clearly needed some help. What happened to his assistant, or the fourth official? Were they switched on?

You saw in the game at Huddersfield that a decision like that can be reversed if the other officials are alert and ready to offer a referee advice. That was some great team-work and I feel Neil was let down.

WHATEVER happened to the FA’s Respect campaign, anyway?

A few years ago we were shouting from the rooftops about how football was cracking down on intimidating behaviour from players towards officials. And yet, in my eyes, it’s worse now than it ever has been.

Every week you are seeing officials surrounded by players and as I mentioned in my column last week I think it is something we have to tackle now, or risk it becoming commonplace on the playing fields and Sunday leagues our kids play in.

Rather than fine clubs for not keeping their players in order, why not hit the players in the pocket? Or for repeat offenders, let’s give them a suspension.

It might sound a bit draconian but until we actually start taking points off clubs, this kind of behaviour will just go on unchecked.

It’s important to note referees have got a role to play as well, because on that pitch you EARN respect.

Players and manager want to see us getting the key decisions correct, they want us to recognise between foul and non-foul, what is careless, what is reckless.

You don’t tend to see the in-form referees getting man-handled, or surrounded; it tends to be those who are having a bad time.

There is no excuse for some of the behaviour we’re seeing on a weekly basis but there are certainly things referees can do to make sure they are protected: Get the big decisions right, earn the trust of players and managers and then you’ll get the respect.