Problems mount for United after derby defeat

MANCHESTER, – As if losing 3-1 to Manchester City was not bad enough in itself, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and striker Wayne Rooney could now both face a Football Association investigation after a derby day debacle that all but ended their side’s fading title hopes.

The pair are alleged to have confronted referee Steve Bennett during the half-time interval of Saturday’s defeat at City’s Eastlands Stadium, letting fly with expletive-ridden outbursts at the official after United took a 2-0 deficit into the break. Rooney was also said to have caused damage to United’s dressing room door as he swore and hurled abuse at the referee in front of numerous eye witnesses.But a United spokeman, who’d received Ferguson’s version of events, denied the Scot had threatened Bennett.”There was a heated exchange,” said the spokesman, “but the content was limited to the manager’s assessment of the referee’s first-half performance.Any talk of a threat is nonsense.”United were infuriated at City’s first goal by Trevor Sinclair which, they claimed was offside, and of a booking Rooney received for dissent just before the half-time whistle.Matters worsened in the second half as Cristiano Ronaldo was shown a straight red card for a lunge at Andy Cole and, if Bennett reports the United pair in his post-match paperwork, worse could follow with FA disciplinary sanctions a possibility.Bennett was not originally scheduled to officiate in the match but took charge after fellow referee Mark Halsey withdrew earlier in the week through injury.Defeat left United 13 points behind leaders Chelsea ahead of the champions’ match away to bottom-of-the-table Sunderland on Sunday.And there was pressure from below too with Liverpool’s 1-0 win against Tottenham on Saturday moving the European champions to within a point of United ahead of their trip to Old Trafford next week.Poor defending was involved in both of City’s first-half goals with England striker Darius Vassell scoring eight minutes after Sinclair netted.Ferguson responded by cutting short the debut of 5.5 million pounds defender Patrice Evra, signed from Monaco earlier in the week, at half-time but afterwards was typically robust in defending both him and Ronaldo.”He didn’t get a foul for a very bad tackle,” said Ferguson, after Ronaldo was denied a free-kick following a trip by Stephen Jordan.”He got a bit frustrated with that.He’s not that type of player and it was a bit rash more than vicious.”He’s not touched the player, he’s not gone near him but the referee has decided it’s a red card, maybe he should look at it again,” he added before details of his half-time confrontation emerged.”Different referees have different interpretations and we had Steve Bennett.”Ferguson’s thinly-veiled criticism of Bennett could not conceal a disastrous defensive display from the visiting team, especially Mikael Silvestre.Even though Ruud van Nistelrooy pulled a goal back with 14 minutes left, City substitute Robbie Fowler wrapped up the game in stoppage time.Ferguson conceded playing Evra had backfired, as had his decision to field Silvestre ahead of Wes Brown, on the grounds he could speak to Evra in French.”Maybe it was a bit of a gamble playing Evra and that’s why I played Silvestre to try and help him through it as he’s French.But it wasn’t Evra’s fault, basically the defending was poor out there,” Ferguson explained.United now face a potentially difficult FA Cup third round replay against non-league Burton Albion at Old Trafford on Wednesday but a typically defiant Ferguson was in no mood for having his side’s morale questioned.”This team has bounced back before,” he said.”I’m not worried about them bouncing back again.”For City, after collecting just one point from the last 12 and having failed to score in the last three league games, there was unqualified joy at such a convincing scoreline.”When you look at all that, it would have been easy for my players not to have given what they have today,” said delighted manager Stuart Pearce.”But people were talking about us as if we’re Burton Albion.We’re not Burton Albion, we’ve got some great international players in our side and if they’re all firing on the same day, they can beat any team.”City defender Richard Dunne hobbled off with a second-half knee injury but Pearce said it was too early to assess the extent of any damage.”We won’t be sure until we see the results of the scan.He is suffering from some sort of knee damage but hopefully it is not as bad as it might be.”-Nampa-AFPRooney was also said to have caused damage to United’s dressing room door as he swore and hurled abuse at the referee in front of numerous eye witnesses.But a United spokeman, who’d received Ferguson’s version of events, denied the Scot had threatened Bennett.”There was a heated exchange,” said the spokesman, “but the content was limited to the manager’s assessment of the referee’s first-half performance.Any talk of a threat is nonsense.”United were infuriated at City’s first goal by Trevor Sinclair which, they claimed was offside, and of a booking Rooney received for dissent just before the half-time whistle.Matters worsened in the second half as Cristiano Ronaldo was shown a straight red card for a lunge at Andy Cole and, if Bennett reports the United pair in his post-match paperwork, worse could follow with FA disciplinary sanctions a possibility.Bennett was not originally scheduled to officiate in the match but took charge after fellow referee Mark Halsey withdrew earlier in the week through injury.Defeat left United 13 points behind leaders Chelsea ahead of the champions’ match away to bottom-of-the-table Sunderland on Sunday.And there was pressure from below too with Liverpool’s 1-0 win against Tottenham on Saturday moving the European champions to within a point of United ahead of their trip to Old Trafford next week.Poor defending was involved in both of City’s first-half goals with England striker Darius Vassell scoring eight minutes after Sinclair netted.Ferguson responded by cutting short the debut of 5.5 million pounds defender Patrice Evra, signed from Monaco earlier in the week, at half-time but afterwards was typically robust in defending both him and Ronaldo.”He didn’t get a foul for a very bad tackle,” said Ferguson, after Ronaldo was denied a free-kick following a trip by Stephen Jordan.”He got a bit frustrated with that.He’s not that type of player and it was a bit rash more than vicious.”He’s not touched the player, he’s not gone near him but the referee has decided it’s a red card, maybe he should look at it again,” he added before details of his half-time confrontation emerged.”Different referees have different interpretations and we had Steve Bennett.”Ferguson’s thinly-veiled criticism of Bennett could not conceal a disastrous defensive display from the visiting team, especially Mikael Silvestre.Even though Ruud van Nistelrooy pulled a goal back with 14 minutes left, City substitute Robbie Fowler wrapped up the game in stoppage time.Ferguson conceded playing Evra had backfired, as had his decision to field Silvestre ahead of Wes Brown, on the grounds he could speak to Evra in French.”Maybe it was a bit of a gamble playing Evra and that’s why I played Silvestre to try and help him through it as he’s French.But it wasn’t Evra’s fault, basically the defending was poor out there,” Ferguson explained.United now face a potentially difficult FA Cup third round replay against non-league Burton Albion at Old Trafford on Wednesday but a typically defiant Ferguson was in no mood for having his side’s morale questioned.”This team has bounced back before,” he said.”I’m not worried about them bouncing back again.”For City, after collecting just one point from the last 12 and having failed to score in the last three league games, there was unqualified joy at such a convincing scoreline.”When you look at all that, it would have been easy for my players not to have given what they have today,” said delighted manager Stuart Pearce.”But people were talking about us as if we’re Burton Albion.We’re not Burton Albion, we’ve got some great int
ernational players in our side and if they’re all firing on the same day, they can beat any team.”City defender Richard Dunne hobbled off with a second-half knee injury but Pearce said it was too early to assess the extent of any damage.”We won’t be sure until we see the results of the scan.He is suffering from some sort of knee damage but hopefully it is not as bad as it might be.”-Nampa-AFP