Manchester United’s frustration at their drubbing by neighbours City on Sunday boiled over at half-time as Ryan Giggs launched a verbal tirade at fourth official Michael Oliver in the players’ tunnel.
With United two goals down at the break and reeling from Yaya Toure’s crucial goal seconds before the half-time whistle, United veteran Giggs let his disappointment get the better of him.
Now a player-coach at Old Trafford and not in the squad of 17 at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, Giggs ran up to Oliver as the players left the field to complain about what he thought was over zealous defending by City’s Matija Nastasic.
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Sportsmail understands that Giggs yelled at Oliver: ‘Get a grip of him. Man up and do your job.’
There is no suggestion that Giggs, who will be 40 later this year, crossed the line between what is acceptable and what is not and his actions are unlikely to be included in the match report of referee Howard Webb.
Nevertheless, onlookers who witnessed the incident were taken aback by Giggs’ anger and the former Wales international’s outburst shows just how deeply wounded United were by what had happened in the first 45 minutes.
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After the game – that ended 4-1 – United manager Moyes admitted that his team had been outplayed and outmuscled by City, something that was being discussed at the team meeting taking place at the club’s training ground this morning.
Moyes has another big game on Wednesday when Liverpool visit United in the Capital One Cup.
The United boss will rest key defenders such as Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand for the game but is still expected to field a relatively strong team in a game that will feature the return of Luis Suarez for Liverpool.
GRAHAM POLL: GIGGS WAS WRONG TO CRITICISE OLIVER…Â BUT WEBB SHOULD HAVE SENT NASTASIC OFF
Matija Nastasic is a robust defender who made his presence felt very early in the game as he flew into an aerial challenge and flattened Chris Smalling.
Howard Webb rightly cautioned him despite it being the first challenge of note in just the fifth minute.Â
Following that there was really nothing that I saw Nastasic do which could have prompted Giggs’ outburst at half-time, although in the 84th minute he brought Wayne Rooney down for what should have been a second caution.
Giggs was always a very fair player and one who would only kick up a fuss if he felt hard done by, generally not getting involved in pressurising officials.
If he did have a go at Michael Oliver it will have been due to a genuine sense of injustice rather than an attempt to apply psychological pressure to the team of officials.
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