‘They don’t like Man Utd to lose’ – Fulham boss Arbeloa says ‘every decision was for them’ in furious referee rant

FURIOUS Fulham head coach Alvaro Arbeloa faces an FA sanction after claiming officials “refused to let Manchester United lose” during their 1–1 draw. Matheus Cunha‘s deflected 89th minute strike rescued a draw at Craven Cottage and delayed a full-blown crisis in the away dugout. Alvaro Arbeloa suggested the match officials ‘did not like to let Manchester United lose’ during their clash with Fulham Credit: Alamy But Arbeloa, who replaced Marco Silva in the summer and is bookies favourite alongside Michael Carrick to be the first manager to be sacked, accused officials of being influenced by their apology to United after the Manchester derby injustice. Arbeloa was vexed that United received a free-kick for a foul on Harry Maguire 35 seconds before Cunha’s equaliser denied Fulham a first win of the season after five matches. Sign up for the Man United newsletter Thank you! The Spaniard raged: “Every decision was for them and I knew after the game against Man City that they would not let Manchester United lose here. We deserved a little bit more.” “We were so, so close. We were a little bit unlucky again. We knew it would be difficult against this big team. “We knew what happened last week. We have seen what the referee has been doing in all the matches, so it was a difficult game. And we were unlucky.” Arbeloa felt the free-kick for Cesar Palacios’ foul on Maguire was soft and claimed ref Michael Oliver gave “all fouls” to United – because of the “error in judgement” by the officials who incorrectly awarded Erling Haaland‘s winner at Old Trafford last weekend. In his later press conference, Arbeloa appeared to row back on his comments a tad- but still said he “was not really happy”. He added:”My English is not so good. Maybe I explain myself so bad and I prefer not to say anything about the referees because you never know.” Most read in Sport CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS Questioning the integrity of match officials or alleging bias has previously drawn FA fines and bans for Prem managers, including former Fulham boss Marco Silva. Carrick’s side avoid a third loss in a week, but head into the international break in 12th place, having taken just five points from their first five games, while Fulham are 19th on two points. United were overrun by the Cottagers, with Fulham covering a cumulative 117.9km to United’s 111.3km. Cunha admitted: “At the start of the second half they put in more energy than us and we cannot accept this. We always play better after conceding goal, and it cannot be like this.” Under-fire manager Carrick rejected suggestions that Fulham outworked his team, insisting: “We were not passive. To expect total dominance for the whole game—I don’t think anyone gets that in this league.” However, former teammate Gary Neville launched a scathing attack, branding one second-half spell “the worst 15 minutes I’ve ever seen from any United side.” Sky pundit Neville doubled down: “They walked around the pitch. I have never seen a Manchester United team walk out of possession as much as that. “Michael said he was happy with the team’s energy – Michael has got to stop defending them. Manchester United were not pleased with the result either Credit: Alamy “I get why he is, he’s loyal, he wants his players to work for him, but they were absolutely mannequins. “There was no alertness, no liveliness, no ‘on your toes’. Just walking. Fulham had 46 passes in the first couple of minutes – 46 passes against Manchester United!” “There needs to be a rebalance. Those attacking players are going to kill him defensively. There are far too many of them walking on the pitch that don’t feel they have to do the ugly side of the game. “Very rarely do I say a team isn’t working hard because that’s the ultimate criticism you can give a group of players. But that first 15 minutes of that second half was an absolute disgrace. Nowhere near good enough.” Comment now