Michael Carrick has criticized the decision to send off Lisandro Martinez in Manchester United’s 2-1 defeat to Leeds United on Monday night.
The Argentine defender was making his return after a short injury layoff, but was given his marching orders for an incident with Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
Martinez was sent off for a hair pull on Calvert-Lewin in the second half of the encounter, with teh Red Devils two goals down.
After the match, interim manager Carrick labelled the decision as a ‘shocking one’ and was disappointed as he suffered his second defeat in charge of the club.
“We didn’t start the game particularly well. We conceded, which came after Leny Yoro got a forearm smash in the back of his head”, Carrick said.
“They didn’t decide 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 Lisandro [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.”
Noah Okafor scored twice in the first half to give Leeds a shock lead, before Martinez was sent off in the second half, giving Manchester United a tougher way back in the clash.
However, Bruno Fernandes provided his 17th league assist of the season as Casemiro pulled one back for the hosts.
Despite their late attempts to snatch an equalizer, Leeds held on for a famous win.
“There’s a difference between touching somebody the way he has and actually really aggressively tugging on it, which we’ve seen at certain points where there’s a real emphasis to it. It’s really concerning”, Carrick added.
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