Michael Carrick and Bruno Fernandes slammed ‘shocking’ refereeing decisions after ten-man Manchester United lost 2-1 to Leeds on Monday night.
Noah Okafor’s brace cancelled out Casemiro’s second-half header, which came shortly after Lisandro Martinez was sent off for pulling Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s hair.
He grabbed the striker’s bun as the pair grappled for an aerial duel, though Carrick maintained the move was accidental. The referees’ handbook holds that a hair pull must be forceful in order to warrant a red card.
Carrick took issue with what he considered to be a foul by Calvert-Lewin on Leny Yoro in the build-up to Okafor’s early opener, and described MArtinez’s sending off ‘one of the worst’ he had ever seen.
He ranted to Sky Sports: “You can elbow Leny Yoro in the side of the head, a leading arm, obviously (before Okafor’s first goal).
“Then you can throw your arm in Licha's (Martinez) face and as he's off-balance because of that, he half touches the back of his hair which pulls the bobble out and leads it to look like - I don't even know what it looks like.
“It's not a pull, it's not a tug, it's not aggressive, he touches it and gets sent off. Worst of all, is [referee Paul Tierney] was sent to overturn it as a clear error. It's shocking.”
He continued, adding United struggled to find rhythm after going behind early.
“They didn't decide to overturn to overturn that, which was a big moment in the game. We didn't quite have the rhythm, we didn't click. We had some moments but it wasn't there for large parts of the half.
“I thought the boys stayed positive and fought for everything in the second half, after a shocking decision to send Licha [Martinez] off.
“That's two games in a row we've had those decisions go against us, but that one was one of the worst I've seen.”
Fernandes, meanwhile, invoked his countryman Jose Mourinho as he refused to pass comment on Tierney’s officiating.
“I am not talking about the referee. If I talk about the ref, I am going to get in very big trouble,” he said.
“The rules are applied different for everyone. The difference in yellow cards, you can see it, so it is better that I don’t say anything.”
