Sir Alex Ferguson has accused Fernando Torres of trying to get John O'Shea sent off during Manchester United's 3-2 win over Liverpool.
United boss says Reds striker tried to get O'Shea sent off
Sir Alex Ferguson has accused Fernando Torres of trying to get John O'Shea sent off during Manchester United's 3-2 win over Liverpool.
United appeared to be heading towards a comfortable victory at Old Trafford when Dimitar Berbatov scored his second goal just before the hour mark, but Liverpool hit back to draw level.
Steven Gerrard scored from the penalty spot after Jonny Evans brought down Torres, who was then fouled by O'Shea for the free-kick which allowed Liverpool to equalise.
O'Shea was booked for the incident on the edge of the penalty area, but Ferguson believes Torres was trying to convince referee Howard Webb to show a red card to the United full-back.
"Liverpool didn't offer anything really, did they?" said the United manager.
"They depended on two decisions from the referee and linesman to get them back in the game - a penalty kick and a free-kick.
"I've watched the free-kick since and Torres definitely made a meal of it [John O'Shea's challenge]. There's absolutely no doubt. He tried to get our player sent off."
Vidic praise
Ferguson praised the performance of new captain Nemanja Vidic, who has regularly been given a torrid time by Torres in past meetings between the two arch-rivals.
"It's what we expected from Nemanja," added Ferguson. "When he's fit, as he was today, he can play against anyone. He's so strong."
Though United conceded twice, and threw away a two-goal lead for the third time this season, Ferguson felt the defensive performance was much better than in recent weeks.
He continued: "I spoke last week about our concentration, but today that was spot on, our concentration was excellent. The two goals we conceded were not caused by bad defending but bad decisions.
"I suppose you could say that's football. And it added to the drama, the way in which we got the winning goal."
