Leeds United beat Manchester United 2-1 at Old Trafford on Monday night to pull six points clear of the relegation zone in the Premier League table.
However, the controversy surrounding referee Paul Tierney’s decisions, particularly the call to send off Lisandro Martinez for pulling on Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s hair, is refusing to die down.
Manchester United manager Michael Carrick has fumed over the decision, calling it one of the worst refereeing calls he has seen during his career.
Most pundits agree that it was a harsh decision, albeit within the letter of the law. However, talkSPORT pundit and Manchester United fan Andy Goldstein has another take on the incident.
Andy Goldstein and Darren Bent get into a heated debate over Leeds United star Calvert-Lewin
During Tuesday evening’s talkSPORT Drive, Goldstein and Bent extensively talked about the Leeds United win over Manchester United, and Martinez’s red card became a hot topic.
Goldstein, a Manchester United fan, insisted that caressing Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s crunchie can’t be considered as violent conduct in any serious discussion.
Bent interjected and insisted that Tierney was within his rights to send off Martinez according to the rules.
His colleague also made the ridiculous assessment that Calvert-Lewin’s decision to tie his hair in a bun is also an odd choice for a footballer. But Bent was having none of that and insisted that Martinez got punished for some lazy defending.
Goldstein asked, “Should hair-pulling always be a red card?
“Violent conduct is punching someone on the face; pulling someone’s crunchie is not violent conduct.
“He didn’t even pull it; he caressed it. He got sent off for caressing someone’s Crunchie.”
Bent jibed in and said, “First of all, it was lazy. That was lazy from Martinez.
“By the letter of the law, that was a red card.”
Goldstein added, “Not many footballers have a hair bun. You are more likely to grab a bun.”
Bent replied, “For me, it was lazy defending from Martinez.”
The Whites deserved some luck after what happened earlier in the season
Leeds might have benefited from a few decisions at Old Trafford, but that shouldn’t take away from how well they played; they were the better side on the night.
Even Calvert-Lewin admitted he wasn’t convinced Lisandro Martinez meant to pull his hair, despite it leading to a red card.
There was also an elbow on Yoro that could have gone the other way, but Leeds were by far the better side in the first half.
After a run of frustrating calls earlier in the season, Leeds fans will feel they finally got a bit of luck, but their performance more than earned the result.
And in truth, Manchester United aren’t exactly in a position to complain about refereeing decisions at Old Trafford.
Oooh, he’s a man and a footballer with long hair? Goldstein sounds like a sour grapes having closet homophobe.