Michael Carrick has reacted to Lisandro Martinez’s sending off in Manchester United’s defeat to Leeds in the Premier League.
Michael Carrick described the decision to send Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez off against Leeds as “absolutely shocking” and confirmed the club will consider lodging an appeal.
United were trailing by two goals when Martinez was shown a straight red card for violent conduct in the 59th minute. Martinez battled Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the air and pulled on the striker’s ponytail.
VAR reviewed the incident and referee Paul Tierney showed Martinez a red card. The defender is now facing the prospect of a three-match ban, and Carrick was furious when he discussed the sending off.
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Carrick said it was “one of the worst” decisions he’d seen during his post-match TV duties, and he stuck by the comment in his press conference. “He [Martinez] gets an arm in the face to start with, so he’s off balance and they’re grappling, and then he almost just goes to touch him and grab his shirt.
“And he ends up catching his hair, and touching the back of his hair. Then the bobble comes out and you get a red card for it. It’s not aggressive, there’s no jolt, no tug, no sudden movement, he kind of touches it, glances through it, and we’ve got to be careful with where the game is going if you’re getting red cards for that.
“But then you can do two arms in the face for the first goal, and that is deemed alright. It’s a shocking decision, an absolutely shocking decision.”
He continued: “There were bits in the first half we could have done better with. When you go one-goal down, it makes it a little bit more difficult, and I have to say the goal itself, Leny Yoro gets an arm smashed in the back of his head.
“That’s worth looking at again if you haven’t seen that. I don’t know how that doesn’t get overturned as a goal, it’s a clear smash in the side of his head, so that first goal shouldn’t stand, and it puts us in a difficult situation.
“We couldn’t quite get to grips with it at certain points and then I was really pleased with the reaction in the second half to try get something from the game.
“It’s two decisions for me, the first goal, if that is overturned, it’s a massive moment, he’s kind of gone like that [gestures a push] to Leny’s head. But the red card, I have to say, that is really concerning.
“I know he touched his hair, but there’s a difference between touching someone’s hair the way he has and pushing someone’s hair really aggressively and tugging on it. It’s really concerning.”
When asked if United would appeal, he said: “I’m going to have to discuss it, but I think it’s a bad decision, so we’ll have to see.”
United are already facing the prospect of taking on Chelsea without Harry Maguire, who could be suspended for the game, depending on the outcome of the FA charge for his alleged improper conduct toward a fourth official.
Carrick added: “When the dust settles on tonight, we’re in a decent position and we’ll make the most of it with whatever players we have available. Hopefully Licha is still available, but we’ll see.”
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