Michael Carrick's Frustration Over Controversial Refereeing Decisions
Michael Carrick left the touchline simmering, his post-match debrief dominated not by tactics or missed chances, but by two refereeing flashpoints he believes turned the game on its head.
At the heart of his anger: a forearm smash on Leny Yoro in the build-up to Leeds’ opener that went unpunished, and the red card shown to Lisandro Martinez for a hair-pull on Dominic Calvert-Lewin after a lengthy VAR check.
Carrick did not disguise his frustration when speaking to Sky Sports, tying both incidents into a wider complaint about consistency.
“We didn't start the game particularly well,” he admitted, before going straight to the first grievance. United conceded when Yoro took a forearm to the back of the head in the box, the move continuing and Leeds capitalising. No foul, no VAR intervention, no reprieve.
“They didn't decide to overturn that decision. That was a big moment in the game,” Carrick said. His side, he felt, never quite found their rhythm in the opening 45 minutes. United flickered without ever fully igniting, “some moments” but “not quite there for large parts of the first half.”
The tone changed after the break. United pushed, the tempo rose, and Carrick praised the reaction.
“Second half, I thought the boys, the way they went about it, stayed positive and fought to get something out of it,” he said.
Then came the incident that blew the evening apart.
Martinez, back in the side after a two-month injury lay-off, tangled with Calvert-Lewin. An arm came across, contact was made, the Everton forward went down and VAR stepped in. After a review, the referee produced a straight red.
Carrick’s response was scathing.
He branded it “another shocking, shocking decision” and placed it alongside a similar sense of injustice from the previous game. “Two games in a row we've had decisions like that go against us,” he said, before going further: “That one was one of the worst I've seen.”
For the United boss, the key was intent and force. He argued that Martinez’s contact was accidental, lacking the aggression and clear violent conduct that should justify a dismissal, especially once VAR becomes involved.
Breaking down the mechanics of the move, Carrick’s disbelief only hardened.
“You can elbow Leny Yoro for the first goal, leaning arm obviously, you can throw your arm in Martinez's face and then as he's off balance because of that, he's half grappling, he half touches the back of [Calvert-Lewin’s] hair which pulls the bobble to come out,” he said.
“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 he gets sent off.”
The sting, for Carrick, lay not just in the decision itself but in the process that led to it. VAR invited the referee to the monitor, deemed it a “clear and obvious error” on the field, and upgraded the punishment.
“Worse of all, he gets sent to overturn it, a clear and obvious error. Shocking,” Carrick concluded.
On a night that should have been about Martinez’s return and United’s response, the manager walked away convinced the story belonged to the officials – and to two moments he believes will linger long beyond the final whistle.
