Campaign fodder: Ivanovic 'may face ban for attempted headbutt and headlock'

If you thought the whole Media v. Jose Mourinho thing was about to blow over with Diego Costa having served the final match of his three-game ban, think again.

Jose Mourinho when asked about the incident with Branislav Ivanovic: "One more question [about that] & I'm leaving." pic.twitter.com/4YLV5kWgAu

— Squawka Football (@Squawka) February 11, 2015

Unfortunately for Sky Sports, this game was on BT, so Jamie Redknapp couldn't unfurl an "Ivanovic Crimes" banner this time.  Though BT did a fine job anyway in setting the post-match narrative, ignoring a missed call on Steven Naismith's handball and several other lenient decisions from Jonathan Moss for both teams.  (Which was unexpected after he dished out two yellow cards in the first 10-15 minutes.)

Others weren't far behind.  The Daily Mail jumped on right quick, and I'm sure you can fill in the blanks from there.  Everton manager Roberto Martinez played things up as well, since it certainly suited his aims of taking attention away from his team which fashioned just two chances all game.

Martinez on Ivanovic: "He reacts in a very forceful manner (to McCarthy). He puts his head against him. That’s a red card." #cfc #efc

— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) February 11, 2015

I wonder what Martinez said back in August when Tim Howard "reacted in a forceful manner" against Cesar Azpilicueta...

@Kjdookz @ollie_glanvill @neilashton_ This fixture brings out all the friendly gestures. pic.twitter.com/J1UAGNoItP

— Dávid Pásztor (@D_Peezy) February 11, 2015

In any case, here's a Vine of the Ivanovic incident.  Yes, it's a bit stupid.  Hopefully that's all that comes of it.

At least the referee can't claim he didn't see (the first part of) it, right?

Pretty sure the ref seen the Ivanovic incident so going by @FA own rules they can't ban him even if they're dying to pic.twitter.com/SXZ26E4ce9

— Barry Armstrong (@barry_armstrong) February 11, 2015