Michael Carrick has struck a different tone in press conferences of late, and he will be even angrier after what transpired in Man City vs Arsenal.
Due to Man Utd’s win against Chelsea, Michael Carrick’s men could afford to sit back, relax, and take in a weekend of action cosily in a UCL qualification place.
Arsenal look close to bottling another title charge, as Pep Guardiola repeated a Carrick tactic to stifle Arteta’s side.
While that would delight him, he will be extremely frustrated at the double standards of the referees, with United finding themselves on the wrong side of it again.
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Man Utd on wrong end of double standards of refereeing
The reason why Carrick had to field a makeshift defence against Chelsea was due to consecutive refereeing double standards.
Harry Maguire was sent off against Bournemouth, then had his suspension extended for daring to speak against the poor decision.
Then, Lisandro Martinez was dismissed for “violent conduct” vs Leeds for brushing his hand against Calvert-Lewin’s hair.
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Pulling the hair is violent conduct, but directing your head towards an opponent’s face with the intention to harm is not, as per the PGMOL.
That is because the latter is what happened during Arsenal vs City, when Gabriel put his head right up against Haaland’s nose in frustration.
Former PL referee Mark Clattenburg disagreed with the decision not to send Gabriel off, in a conversation with the Arsenal Insider, which speaks volumes about how big an error that was.
There was no VAR intervention because the conduct wasn’t “aggressive” enough compared to how Martinez was intent on tearing Calvert-Lewin’s hair off his scalp.
The statement above is sarcasm, if not clear already, which is exactly why Rio Ferdinand had had enough.
Rio Ferdinand calls out the PGMOL
Ferdinand is not usually one to directly call out the referees, even if he’s always supportive of the club, unlike Paul Scholes or Gary Neville.
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Nathan Collins fouls Bryan Mbeumo, leading to a penalty.
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Therefore, for him to say that the PGMOL have “lost the plot” after Gabriel’s incident with Haaland shows just how egregious the narrative has gotten.
Never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence, but when the incompetence is one-sided for a long time, it’s impossible to shake off the feeling of malice.
Carrick has noticed that too, which is why he’s started calling out the one-sidedness of these decisions publicly.
It’s long overdue, and Ferdinand’s public stance should help as well.
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