Manchester United's head coach, Michael Carrick, lambasted the 'shocking' decision to send off Lisandro Martinez, labeling it as 'one of the worst' refereeing calls he has ever seen. The Argentine defender was given his marching orders after a brief, seemingly unintentional, hair pull on Dominic Calvert-Lewin during the 2-1 defeat to Leeds at Old Trafford. Carrick was incensed, arguing that the incident did not warrant such a harsh punishment. 'It's not a pull, it's not a tug, it's not aggressive, he touches it and gets sent off.
The most egregious aspect is that it was referred to the VAR monitor to overturn it as a clear and obvious error. It's shocking,' Carrick told Sky Sports. Martinez appeared perplexed as he left the pitch, having been grappling with Calvert-Lewin at the time of the incident.
Carrick was further irritated by the decision to allow Noah Okafor's early opener to stand, despite Calvert-Lewin catching defender Leny Yoro in the face with an arm in the build-up. Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher sympathized with Carrick, stating that the decision was 'one of the worst' he had seen.
Martinez is not the first Premier League player to be sent off for a similar offense this season, with Everton's Michael Keane receiving a red card for a hair pull on Wolves forward Tolu Arokodare in January. The Premier League handbook states that players will be sent off if they 'clearly pull the hair of an opponent with force,' but Carragher felt that this did not apply to either Keane or Martinez's situations.
Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville disagreed, believing that Martinez should have been aware of the heightened scrutiny surrounding hair pulling this season and should have avoided the incident altogether.