Erik ten Hag hits out at 'inconsistent' refereeing after Casemiro sent off in Crystal Palace win

Erik ten Hag was furious with what he felt was inconsistent refereeing in Manchester United's 2-1 win over Crystal Palace.

Saturday was a mixed bag for Ten Hag and co with the Red Devils picking up the three points but losing a key player for their next three domestic matches after Casemiro was shown a straight red card.

The midfielder was sent off for grabbing Will Hughes by the throat in a brawl between a number of players from the two sides that started after Antony was pushed down the sloped Old Trafford touchline by Jeffrey Schlupp.

Speaking about the incident afterwards, Ten Hag was glad that his players stood up for each other and angry that Casemiro was sent off while others involved weren't, feeling that VAR has been too lenient regarding offences against his players in recent times.

“You see this team stands for each other, there is such a good spirit in the team and they don’t accept when a player from us can be badly injured, that is the way Antony got treated,” he said. “This team sticks together, but of course, you have to control your emotions.

“It is really difficult in such moments and then I see two teams fighting each other. I see two teams where several players crossed the line and then one player is picked out and gets sent off. For me that’s not right.

“The Palace player takes a big risk by this foul that he could get badly injured by pushing him across the line and you know the pitch here. Then everyone is reacting, Crystal Palace players and Man Utd players. Not only Casemiro.

“Last week, we miss Christian Eriksen because of a bad foul - no intervention from VAR. At Crystal Palace, [Jean-Philippe] Mateta elbowed [Lisandro] Martinez, he is running for two weeks with a cut on his eyebrow and no interfering [from VAR]. This has an influence on the game and for coming games.

“You can’t cross lines and there are certain standards you have to keep as a team. Also you have to protect each other when players like Christian Eriksen get hurt. It’s not as a colleague that you want to bring an injury to a player and it was the same with Antony today. You have to stand as a team, but you have to stay in control because we are role models. They are inconsistent and that is not right.”

Specifically, while the manager admitted that Casemiro crossed a line, he felt that Jordan Ayew did too when he grabbed Fred.

“You bring it up but there was one of the Palace players did even worse than Casemiro,” he said. “Casemiro, you freeze the shot and he crossed the line. Ayew definitely [did too].

“Casemiro is protecting our player and also protecting the player who wants to attack. He is holding him back, he is protecting him, he doesn’t want to hurt the player.

“When Casemiro is sent off for this incident, many more players should have been sent off for that incident. Then you have to be consistent.”