Scattergun' is an appropriate description of Sir Alex Ferguson's astonishing rant following Manchester United's FA Cup exit to Pompey as he turned his ire on Martin Atkinson, referees' chief Keith Hackett, fouling and the amount of injury time added on. F365 dissects exactly what Sir Fergie had to say...
"I think the game was decided when the Ronaldo penalty was refused."
A game decided in the seventh minute with the scoreline at 0-0 and all the players still on the pitch? Utter nonsense.
Tellingly, Ferguson looked calm, almost cheerful, at half-time, an apparent indication that his confidence had been unaffected by events in the first-half. Only after his own side's profligacy had been coupled with Pompey scoring from their one and only meaningful attack during the second period did his opinion seemingly change.
"I think that gave them great confidence knowing that the referee was on their side."
Criticism of a referee by a manager generally earns a slap in the wrist from the FA. But Ferguson's complaint is of an altogether different type. By claiming Martin Atkinson was "on their side", Ferguson has aggressively questioned Atkinson's professional integrity. The inevitable touchline ban (his second of the season following his rant at Mark Clattenburg in the wake of November's defeat at Bolton) may be the least of his worries; if Atkinson is so inclined, Ferguson's verdict would be studied with interest by lawyers familiar with Britain's notoriously sensitive libel laws.
"I've got to agree with Arsene Wenger. Someone is going to get a serious injury in our game. He's had one himself with Eduardo. It's not a nice thing to talk about, but the treatment Ronaldo is getting I'm worried about him."
It's an ironic curiosity that Ronaldo is the reigning Players' Player of the Year given that his peers have such a penchant for kicking him. But while there can be empathy with that aspect of Ferguson's complaint, the comparison (later made directly by Carlos Queiroz, his master's voice) to the leg-breaking tackle inflicted on Eduardo is more difficult to establish.
While Ronaldo frequently suffers from over-zealous attention, he has not been personally subject to the sort of brutal tackling that culminated in Eduardo's demise. And he certainly wasn't on Saturday. In the incident cited by Queiroz and Ferguson, Ronaldo was shoulder barged off the ball; Eduardo was leg-snapped out of the game. There's no comparison.
Ferguson's argument is further undermined by the reckless, airborne lunge made by Wayne Rooney after 20 minutes - without question, the most dangerous foul of the afternoon.
"And he [Diarra] doesn't get a booking [for the challenge on Ronaldo in the opening minutes]. That sets a tone for Pompey knowing that they can get away with so many things. He had eight or nine fouls in the match. It's incredible. I don't blame Portsmouth. If any team comes here and finds that a referee won't do anything, won't do the right thing, then they will keep on doing it. And I think that's a tragedy."
It would have been harsh to caution for Diarra for the foul, which was a shoulder barge (and not an elbow, as alleged by Queiroz) on the touchline by the half-way line.
Instead of pleading victimisation, Ferguson would have been on surer ground comparing the incident to the near-identical penalty appeal a few minutes later when Ronaldo was blocked off by Distin. If he saw the first challenge as a foul, then Atkinson should have awarded a penalty. The only possible explanation for the lack of consistency is a lack of nerve.
Incidentally, Diarra was booked later in the half, and 'only' committed six fouls.
"It's absolutely ridiculous [not to give the penalty]. I cannot explain it. Managers get sacked because of things like that and he's going to referee a game next week."
The obvious explanation is that if referees were sacked for every mistake they make then the Premiership season would reach a premature conclusion in early November due to a shortage of unblemished whistle-blowers.
Nonetheless, the lack of accountability enjoyed by referees is galling. Worse, all too often it appears that incompetence has been overlooked when the match-day rota is published.
As Andy Gray likes to observe, referees are paid big money to make big decisions. Atkinson, unfortunately, has a tendency to make bad calls in big circumstances. Last February, for instance, Arsenal were knocked out of the FA Cup after Atkinson ignored a stonewall foul by Stephen Warnock on Jeremie Aliadere that even Mark Hughes admitted warranted a penalty. Rather than face censure for the unfathomable oversight, Atkinson was instead rewarded with the glamour task officiating Liverpool v ManYoo two weeks' later.
"Keith Hackett [general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Board] has got a lot to answer for in this country. I think is in a nice comfortable position and does nothing really . I don't think he makes a contribution to the refereeing performances in the country and I think that has to be addressed. I think that he's not doing his job properly. That guy will go and referee a game next week, no problem, you see time and time his favourites always get the games and I think that's a disappointing factor."
What exactly is Ferguson specifically bemoaning in Hackett's work? His ire seems to be focused on the issue of match appointments, a narrow perspective that, although not without foundation, will be disregarded by the public at the large as trivial. The FA, though, are unlikely to appreciate the suggestion that Hackett has 'favourites' - another instance of Ferguson stepping into the murky territory of questioning someone's professional integrity.
Alternatively, it would have been laudable - and helpful - if Ferguson had blamed Hackett for the culture of refereeing which saw the luckless Aliadiere banned for four matches for slapping an opponent while a leg-breaker is suspended for just three.
In making that point explicitly, Ferguson would have enjoyed widespread support. For instance, Sunday Telegraph columnist Patrick Barclay has long campaigned against the type of muted refereeing - apparently advocated by Hackett - that has enabled brutality to flourish in the Premier League. 'It cannot be said we were not warned,' he wrote following Eduardo's leg break. 'More than three years ago, I wrote that the refereeing regime headed by Keith Hackett, himself a former official at England's top level, was too permissive and that dangerous tackles were being inadequately punished in the interests of "managing the game" so that dismissals were kept to a minimum.'
(The irony being that, in his role of match reporter for the Telegraph this weekend, Barcalay gave Diarra the man-of-the-match award despite more than half of the tackles made by the Frenchman being considered fouls).
Ferguson could have made an important and necessary contribution to an issue that needs to be raised on a larger forum than the Telegraph (and Football365). Instead, by getting distracted by the issue of rotas and favouritism, he made himself look paranoid and petty.
