After Manchester United's thrilling 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace, an incensed Erik ten Hag lashed out at the way the authorities have been treating the team.
After just seven minutes, Bruno Fernandes' penalty gave the Red Devils a 1-0 lead, and Marcus Rashford doubled their advantage just after the hour mark. Between Rashford's 11th goal in 13 games and Casemiro's straight red card, which made Ten Hag furious and his team vulnerable, everything appeared to be going well for three minutes.
After colliding with United star Antony, Palace winger Jeffrey Schlupp, who had incited the major melee that resulted in Casemiro's punishment, capitalized by scoring what was ultimately considered a consolation goal.
Man United managed to hold on and record a record 13 consecutive victories at home to get back on track in the Premier League thanks to the efforts of the Red Devils' staunch defense, which was ably led by the enormous Lisandro Martinez.
But Ten Hag wasn't entirely satisfied, bringing up incidents from the January rematch and a recent FA Cup match with a tough Reading team that resulted in Christian Eriksen's three-month injury suspension.
"Casemiro crossed the line; you saw that," the Dutchman admitted post-match.
"However, I'm unhappy with the inconsistent refereeing; not only this game but also [away to] Palace. They elbowed Martinez and last week with Eriksen. A lot of other players crossed the line, including some Crystal Palace players. VAR didn't intervene with them."
Erik Ten Hag may have a point because video of the altercation shows Jordan Ayew hitting Fred in the face. However, the motivated Red Devils manager was pleased with his team's fortitude in holding onto all three points, saying "This is a good team, they stick together. They're there for each other. You see that in the outcome. [Rashford's goal] was a perfect team goal for me, ended with the cross from Luke Shaw."
Manchester United's left back Luke Shaw gave his take on the fiery affair as well by telling MUTV: "[We're] really happy. A massive three points, I think, especially under the circumstances, in the last 20 minutes, it was really tough but we showed character, we showed resilience, to win this game in the end.
"I think we feed off that energy from the fans. They've been amazing and today, tough times, especially with 10 men, we feed off that. We fight to the end, we didn't want to lose these points, and I think it showed."
Since Leeds United will visit United on Wednesday, United won't have much time to savor the hard-earned victory. Casemiro will miss the game, the rematch, which will take place just four days later, as well as the home game against Leicester City on February 19th.
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