Jamie Redknapp and Ashley Young felt referee Chris Kavanagh made a mistake sending Bruno Fernandes off in Manchester United’s woeful 3-0 defeat at the hands of Tottenham.
Brennan Johnson sent Spurs’ away support into raptures after just three minutes at Old Trafford, making no mistake from close range after an incredible 70-yard run from Micky van de Ven through United’s defence.
The visitors squandered a number of opportunities to double their advantage as the first half wore on, perhaps missing their captain Son Heung-min in the final third.
But United’s woes deepened in the 42nd minute as Fernandes was shown a straight red card for a reckless challenge on Spurs attacking midfielder James Maddison.
The video assistant referee checked and confirmed referee Kavanagh’s initial call and the decision was universally panned in the Sky Sports studio during the half-time break.
It was the first time in Fernandes’ 242 appearances for United that the Portugal international had been given his marching orders.
The situation soon went from bad to worse for the Red Devils as goals from Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke put the away team out of sight in the second half.
Asked whether he thought Fernandes’ red card was justified on first viewing, ex-Tottenham midfielder Redknapp replied: ‘No, he slips.
‘He goes in to try and win the challenge and you can see his feet go under him.
‘It’s petty, it’s a bit petulant. You can see he sticks out his right leg and that angle is quite damning.
‘But when you actually see it in slow motion, his feet go under him and he just sticks out his right leg. I think it’s a yellow card.’
Former United winger Young agreed with Redknapp that Kavanagh had ‘got it wrong’ as it was not a ‘reckless’ challenge from Fernandes.
‘I don’t think it’s serious foul play or it’s reckless,’ Young explained.
‘Okay, he’s out of control but he slips and you can clearly see that he slips.
‘I don’t think he even goes to take out James Maddison either. He hits him with the back of his heel as well.
‘I think the referee has got it wrong there.’
Gary Neville, meanwhile, on co-commentary duty for Sky Sports, said Fernandes’ sending off ‘summed up’ United’s dismal showing in the opening 45 minutes, with Erik ten Hag’s men booed off at the halfway stage.
‘It just sums up Manchester United in this first half and, to be fair, they’ve veen an absolute disgrace,’ an irate Neville said.
‘It’s one of the worst performances I’ve seen in Erik ten Hag’s time at United and that’s saying something.
‘It’s really bad and he will not be able to believe what he’s watching in that first half.
‘I’m not talking about patterns of play here, I’m talking about application towards a football match.’
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