MANCHESTER United manager Erik ten Hag has hit out at the refereeing in the Premier League following his side’s 0-0 draw with Southampton at Old Trafford yesterday.
Referee Anthony Taylor sent off Casemiro in the 34th minute after a VAR review, and United had two penalty shouts ignored.
Casemiro’s studs took the ball then connected with the Carlos Alcaraz’s shin, but Taylor initially issued a yellow card before he was invited to have a look at the pitchside monitor.
It was the 31-year-old Brazilian’s second red card in eight matches after previously never receiving one during his time at Real Madrid and Porto.
“What I think is [about] the inconsistency – players don’t know anymore what is the policy and we see it with Premier League yesterday,” Ten Hag said during his post-match interview, referring to Saturday’s fixture between Leicester City and Chelsea.
“Leicester-Chelsea [two penalty appeals], the VAR is not coming on the line [intervening], today it’s coming on the line.”
The former Ajax manager was also aggrieved that the VAR was not interested in two first-half United penalty appeals – for a Kyle Walker-Peters challenge on Bruno Fernandes and for an apparent handball by Armel Bella-Kotchap.
“Then it’s two penalty situations, but they don’t come on the line, especially the first one was a clear and obvious handball so what is the policy?” he added.
“It is inconsistent, the referees are coming at the start of the season with a policy: we are the Premier League, we want intensity and Casemiro, across European games, over 500, he never had a red card but now, twice. He plays tough but he’s fair. Same as against Crystal Palace, so it’s very debatable.
“When you freeze it [Casemiro’s challenge], it looks bad. Everyone who knows something about football knows what is bad, what is fair and Casemiro is a fair player. Tough, but fair and it shows over 500 games in big leagues and he was never sent off. He’s disappointed.
“Definitely freeze framing is an issue. If you do it like this you have to be consistent across all games. It’s a little bit the same as against Crystal Palace: when you saw the incident you should then have sent off three or four players and not only one if you’re really consistent.”
Casemiro will miss Fulham’s visit in the FA Cup on Sunday and the league matches with Newcastle, Brentford and Everton.
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