Michael Carrick has made his first serious error in audition for Man Utd job

View 2 Images

Without doubt, the Lisandro Martinez hair-pull was even less violent than the one which got Everton’s Michael Keane sent off against Wolves at Hill Dickinson Stadium back in January. But from the moment Keane’s ‘offence’ against Wolves’ Tolu Arokodare was deemed worthy of a straight red card - and a three-match suspension - it was clear Premier League referees had been given the word.

Zero tolerance on hair-pulling. A yank, a tug, whatever, it doesn’t matter. And no matter how incredulous Michael Carrick and a legion of ex-professionals declared themselves to be, there will be no change in the policy. Certainly not this season.

Pull hair, get sent off. And no matter how soft the dismissal of Martinez looked, you cannot accidentally pull someone’s hair.

Whether this zero-tolerance approach will continue next season is another matter, but the problem referees will have is deciding when a hair-pull is soft enough for a yellow card or no punishment, and when it is hard enough for a red card. Far simpler to say: hey, just don’t pull someone’s hair.

Anyway, the point is that while the red card for Martinez did seem extremely harsh, it was not ‘absolutely shocking’. Once Paul Tierney believes the footage shows even the slightest pull, the Manchester United man is off.

FOLLOW OUR MAN UTD FB PAGE! Latest United news and more on our dedicated Facebook page

What was shocking, though, was Carrick’s post-match reaction. It was his first serious mis-step in his extended audition for the long-term job.

That he was outraged by the decision was not shocking - a lot of people were equally outraged. I can safely say in the list of Martinez offences that have been deemed worthy of sanction since he has been in the Premier League, this was way down the scale.

But Carrick had just enjoyed the luxury of three weeks to prepare for a game against a team that had won just ONE Premier League away game all season. And that win was against a Wolves team at their most hapless early in the season.

And don’t forget, Carrick has a squad assembled at a cost in excess of £800 million. The total outlay on Daniel Farke’s squad was just over £200million. Most pertinently of all, Leeds United were two goals to the good at the time of the Martinez offence and looked in relatively little danger.

View 2 Images

You can easily understand the manager’s frustration. He is now going to be without Martinez for three games, although even before the red card, it would be fair to describe the Argentine’s comeback performance as mixed.

But even if it was not his intention, Carrick’s broadside against the officials diverted attention away from the most unsatisfactory performance in what is essentially a trial period for the manager, and the message from Carrick should have been clear. He didn’t agree with the sending-off call but the real issue is that United players had lapsed into pre-Carrick levels of performance and that is something he will address.

Heading into the remaining six Premier League fixtures with a seven-point advantage over sixth-placed Chelsea (the top five qualify for the Champions League), Carrick is still in the box seat for the long-term role. But Monday night’s efforts - and the subsequent moaning about officials - were the sorts of things that could change executive opinion of Carrick very dramatically.

There is nothing like the World Cup to create legends and this new special edition publication celebrates the heroes of the planet's greatest sporting competition