For the second game in a row, Monday night saw Manchester United drop points as a direct result of poor officiating, with more horrendous decisions coming in the week following.
When things aren’t going right, it is easy for clubs to point fingers at referees and VAR, but in the case of Manchester United recently, there are viable reasons to be outraged.
Against Bournemouth, United were wrongly denied a penalty, which could have led to a 3-2 victory. Instead, Harry Maguire was sent off for a situation Dermot Gallagher said was no worse than the foul on Amad.
This was then followed by Lisandro Martinez’s scandalous red card vs Leeds, which has sparked so much controversy.
But following the Leeds game, things have gotten so much worse, and the FA have questions to answer for the disgraceful treatment United have faced this season.
Harry Maguire has been given an extra game ban vs Chelsea due to misconduct – Let us know your thoughts….
With Martinez suspended too, it means Yoro and Heaven are expected to start…
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Harry Maguire’s additional one-game suspension is a complete joke
It was alleged that after getting his red card against Bournemouth, Maguire made comments to officials. This has now seen Maguire suspended for an additional game, missing the Chelsea clash at Stamford Bridge.
This comes after the fourth official, Matt Donahue, claimed Maguire had said, “You’re all a _______ joke”, after his red card, which was soft.
HARRY MAGUIRE during Bournemouth v Manchester United
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Donahue was named in the FA’s official reasoning for the decision, but the inconsistencies in his testimony are the real ‘joke’ and raise the question of how this case wasn’t thrown out by the FA.
The fourth official admitted there was a possibility he ‘misheard or mis-recollected’ Maguire saying, “You’re a joke”, but claimed he distinctively remembered the United defender saying, “You’re all a _______ joke”, believing this was aimed at the officials.
So, Donahue filed his report before admitting half of the statement could be wrong or false, but the FA still decided to back his account over Maguire, who had zero inconsistencies, which is a farce, and they need to answer for this.
Maguire claims he said ‘something along the lines of “it is a _______ joke”, which in itself is a big difference, as Joshua Zirkzee was called in by United as a witness to this.
For his alleged crime, Maguire was handed both a one-game suspension and a £30,000 fine, which feels excessive considering the ‘he said, he said’ nature of this situation.
In 2003, Sir Alex Ferguson was banned for two games and given a fine for telling fourth official Jeff Winter he was a “_______ joke”.
However, the direct comparison that raises questions of how the FA came to this decision is the Rodri situation from just last month.
After City drew 2-2 with Spurs, Rodri spoke out in a post-match interview about the officials, accusing referee Robert Jones of not being “neutral”.
This is a significantly bigger deal than Maguire reacting to a decision by basically not agreeing and voicing that, not making an accusation about the referee.
For Rodri’s indiscretion, he received a fine of £80,000, which meant he avoided being banned for his comments.
The double standards of this situation raise serious questions over the integrity of the FA, PGMOL, and United need to make it clear that these inconsistencies affecting them are not good enough.
There have been multiple bad officiating decisions against United this season, and hopefully, Michael Carrick calling it out after the Leeds defeat sees something change.
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Lisandro Martinez’s red card can also be viewed as a ridiculous decision
While a hair pull is absolutely a red card, the softness of the Martinez red begs for some common sense in the rules of football, which clearly the FA and PGMOL don’t have.
There was clearly no ‘violent conduct’ or aggression in the accidental split second that Martinez grabbed Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s hair, which dislodged his bobble, but was absolutely not a pull.
Rio Ferdinand demanded answers on this decision, but three days on, there hasn’t been a peep from the FA or PGMOL.
This, compared with Kenny Tete pulling Antoine Semenyo’s hair blatantly with a proper tug, in front of Paul Tierney, who was the exact referee that sent off Martinez, highlights yet further inconsistencies with the FA and their standards.
Even during the Martinez incident, Calvert-Lewin had his hand clenched on the back of the United defender’s neck, which, if he had a ponytail, would have been a pull by these rules.
So the Leeds forward has benefited from having long hair effectively, which feels very unfair on United.
It’s about time the FA was called out for being an absolute disgrace.
These decisions have real consequences for United financially and in terms of returning to the Champions League next season, so Ineos and Carrick can’t allow themselves to be walked over by the FA.
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