据《卫报》1月3日报道，在本场比赛中，利物浦队队长杰拉德在一次同对方球员诺兰的争抢中，两人双双倒地。身体失去平衡的杰拉德一只脚狠狠地踩到了诺兰的胸口，然而当值主裁判克拉登博格并没有给与杰拉德处罚。赛后比赛录像回放也显示，这次踩踏的确只是一次意外。然而，博尔顿队主教练阿莱戴斯对此却提出异议，认为“红军”队长理应被立即出示红牌罚出场外。

    “场上出现了一些严重犯规。杰拉德对诺兰以及西索科对迪乌夫都有严重犯规动作。”阿莱戴斯赛后抱怨说：“这些犯规是显而易见的，可是主裁克拉登博格对此却没有做出一次正确的判罚。如果他看见了杰拉德的犯规，他就应该将他罚下场。西索科也一样。当然，或许对于一名裁判来说，在几秒钟的时间里做出判罚是有些困难。但不管怎样，他们的犯规只能说是故意的。”

    在阿莱戴斯抱怨的同时，当值主裁克拉登博格在他赛后递交的比赛报告中证实他目睹了杰拉德同诺兰以及西索科同迪乌夫之间发生的冲撞。而根据国际足联的规定，如果当值主裁判证实亲眼目睹了场上发生的情况，那么英足总则没有权利根据录像对球员进行事后追加处罚。英足总发言人在随后举行的新闻发布会上也证实了克拉登博格在比赛报告中的说法，这意味着英足总不会对杰拉德和西索科实行追加处罚。

    而在此之前，在比赛中遭到“侵犯”的博尔顿球员诺兰也对杰拉德表示了支持。在得到诺兰谅解的同时，杰拉德也向媒体做出了解释。“这完全是一次意外，”他说：“凯文（诺兰）和我撞在了一起，我当时没法避开，这就是事情的全部经过。我和凯文是好朋友，我根本就没有理由去故意伤害他。赛后我们进行了交谈，我将所有美好的祝愿都给了他，希望他在余下的赛季中好运常在。对于比赛中出现的那一幕，我们当时根本连提也没提。”

    Steven Gerrard and Mohamed Sissoko are in the clear after the Football Association confirmed it will take no action against the Liverpool duo, despite controversial clashes during yesterday's Premiership match at Bolton.

    Nolan was left with blood seeping from an ugly graze on his chest after Gerrard, competing for the ball and off balance, trod on him as the Bolton captain lay on the turf. Television replays suggested that the incident was nothing more than an accident, with Gerrard duly going unpunished by the referee Mark Clattenburg, but Sam Allardyce insisted that the visiting captain had to be sent off.

    There were some serious incidents out there, Steven Gerrard stamping on Nolan and Sissoko stamping on El Hadji Diouf, said Allardyce. They're plain and they're obvious, and Mark Clattenburg didn't deal with either in the correct manner. If he had seen the Gerrard incident, he had to be sent off. So did Sissoko. It's clear for me, but it's probably difficult for a referee in that split second. But it's nothing other than intentional. That's sad, but it should have been dealt with in the right way.
 
    However, referee Clattenburg has confirmed in his match report that he saw both Gerrard's clash with Nolan and Sissoko's tackle on Diouf. Under Fifa rules, the FA cannot take retrospective action against players using video evidence if the match official witnessed the incident at the time. An FA spokesman said: Referee Mark Clattenburg has confirmed to us that he saw both incidents during the game.

    Gerrard, who today received support from Nolan, had pleaded his innocence prior to the FA's response. It was a complete accident. Kevin fell into me and I could not avoid him and that was it, he said. I am mates with Kevin Nolan. He is a good Scouser, so why would I ever try to deliberately hurt him? We spoke at the end of the match and I wished him all the best for the rest of the season, and the tackle wasn't even mentioned.