‘Worst of all’: What Michael Carrick said about VAR controversy after Man United lost to Leeds

Manchester United registered a 2-1 defeat to Leeds United in the Premier League at Old Trafford on Monday evening.

Noah Okafor got Leeds off to a dream start with two goals in the first 30 minutes.

Lisandro Martinez was sent off in the second half for pulling Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s hair during an aerial duel.

Casemiro pulled one back with yet another crucial goal, but United ultimately fell short of completing a comeback.

United head coach Michael Carrick did not hold back, launching a scathing critique of the referee and VAR decisions after the match.

He said (via Sky Sports): “You can elbow Leny Yoro in the side of the head, a leading arm, obviously.

“Then you can throw your arm in Licha’s face and as he’s off-balance because of that, he half touches the back of his hair which pulls the bobble out and leads it to look like – I don’t even know what it looks like.

“It’s not a pull, it’s not a tug, it’s not aggressive, he touches it and gets sent off. Worst of all is he was sent to overturn it as a clear and obvious error. It’s shocking.”

Refereeing chaos proves costly

Leeds scored an early goal when Leny Yoro attempted to clear a cross but the ball fell kindly for Okafor, who smashed it past Senne Lammens.

Replays suggested Yoro could have dealt with the situation more cleanly if not for Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s arm impeding him.

The striker appeared more focused on disrupting the defender than genuinely challenging for the ball.

Despite the apparent infringement, referee Paul Tierney and VAR chose not to intervene.

The flashpoint arrived later when Martínez and Calvert-Lewin contested another aerial duel.

Once again, the forward led with his arms, making contact with the defender’s face.

As both players descended, Martinez inadvertently made contact with Calvert-Lewin’s hair with minimal force.

Initially, the incident passed without punishment, with the referee seeing no wrongdoing.

Out of the blue, VAR (getting bored of doing nothing) intervened and advised the on-field referee to review the incident and show a red card to the Argentine international.

While the Premier League is widely regarded as the best league in the world, the standard of refereeing continues to raise serious concerns.

United were far from their best on the night, but the controversial decisions made it impossible for them to come back.

Carrick has every right to be outraged.

Article written by Sanidhya Bhardwaj .