As United fans recover from the Tragic defeat at Anfield, more defeat comes in as Manchester United will soon answer to a query. Manchester United have been charged by the Football Association for failing to conduct themselves in an orderly fashion during their Premier League defeat against Liverpool on Sunday.
United’s players were seen surrounding referee Craig Pawson on the pitch midway through the opening period after Virgil Van Dijk challenged David De Gea. De Gea, also had a moment as he could be seen shouting at the referee as he tried to get his point across. Roberto Firmino subsequently scored, but his goal to delight of United was disallowed following a VAR review of Van Dijk’s clash with the United goalkeeper. United have been given until Thursday to respond to the charge.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side were beaten 2-0 by the league leaders thanks to goals from Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah and it could have been worse had it not been for VAR ruling out a Roberto Firmino effort in the first half.
The Liverpool attacker finished past the United goalkeeper but the Spaniard was infuriated as he went off to celebrate what he thought was Liverpool’s second of the game as he believed he had been impeded in the build up.
David de Gea, along with Harry Maguire, Fred and Andreas Pereira, surrounded referee Craig Pawson before VAR eventually ruled the goal out for Van Dijk’s foul on the United goalkeeper. United now have a charge to answer for the behaviour of the players during the incident in the 26th minute.
A statement from the FA read: “Manchester United has been charged with a breach of FA Rule E20 (a). It is alleged that the club failed to ensure its players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion during the 26th minute of the Premier League fixture against Liverpool FC on Sunday.”
Retired referee Dermot Gallagher will not have been surprised to see United charged as he thought the situation was “difficult” for Pawson to manage with so many players surrounding him.
“The players surrounding the referee is very difficult in that situation and there were six players around him,” he told Sky Sports. “You can control one or two players, but once more than two players come, it is very difficult to see who is doing what. The fourth official will monitor that and report it to the FA, who will then process it. You may not have heard the last of that.”
Liverpool are now unbeaten in 39 Premier League matches with a game at hand. Yet it is an indictment of the way United are run that the former kings of England are now 30 points adrift of the top spot. The Red Devils are the richest club in the Premier League. But it is expected after Liverpool signed a lucrative deal with Nike, they will surpass the Red Devils by 2022.
