Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has accused Fernando Torres of trying to get John O’Shea sent off during his side’s 3-2 victory over Liverpool on Sunday.
Despite taking al three points from the game, Ferguson was angered by the incident that led to Liverpool’s equaliser – and claimed that Spain striker Torres made too much of the clash with O’Shea that resulted in Steven Gerrard converting a free-kick.
O’Shea was booked for the incident on the edge of the penalty area, but Ferguson believes Torres was trying to convince referee Howard Webb to show a red card to the United full-back.
“Liverpool didn’t offer anything really, did they?” said the United manager.
“They depended on two decisions from the referee and linesman to get them back in the game – a penalty kick and a free-kick.
“I’ve watched it. Definitely, Torres made a meal of it, an absolute meal of it. There’s no doubt he tried to get the player sent off.”
Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson revealed that he did not have a great view of the incident, but defended the performance of referee Howard Webb.
“Some of my coaches were jumping up and down but I didn’t have a great view. Sir Alex was closer to it,” Hodgson said.
“I thought the referee had a good game. Sir Alex is entitled to his opinion but I prefer to talk about things that interest me. I am not a fan of game saying.”
Ferguson felt United’s defensive performance was much better than in recent weeks.
He continued: “I spoke last week about our concentration, but today that was spot on, our concentration was excellent. The two goals we conceded were not caused by bad defending but bad decisions.
“I suppose you could say that’s football. And it added to the drama, the way in which we got the winning goal.”
