Erik ten Hag bemoaned a lack of consistency in refereeing decisions after he was left frustrated by the performance of Anthony Taylor in Manchester United's draw with Southampton on Sunday.
United could only scrape a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford after Casemiro was shown a straight red card in the first half – the Brazilian given his marching orders for a tough challenge on Carlos Alcaraz.
Taylor initially showed Casemiro a yellow card, but it was upgraded to a red following a VAR review, leaving the United midfielder clearly despondent after replays showed he won the ball before catching Alcaraz.
It means Casemiro is the first United player to receive two red cards in a single Premier League season since Nemanja Vidic in 2013-14, and he will serve a ban of four matches rather than three due to it being his second dismissal.
The tackle was not too dissimilar to an incident on Saturday when Ricardo Pereira caught Joao Felix with his studs and escaped punishment entirely, and this is the crux of Ten Hag's frustration, having also seen a couple of penalty appeals fall on deaf ears.
"What I think is the inconsistency; players don't know anymore what is the policy, and I think it's all across [every competition]," Ten Hag told reporters.
"We see it with the Premier League yesterday: Leicester-Chelsea, the VAR is not coming online. Today, it's coming online.
"And then it's two penalty situations, but they don't come online. Especially the first one, it was clear and obvious handball, so what is the policy?"
Ten Hag was asked if he sought that clarification from Taylor afterwards, though he was seemingly dissatisfied with the outcome.
"Of course, we talk but not a lot, so some questions we [still] have," he continued.
"There's another one: inconsistent. The referee is coming in the start of the season with a policy; we are [in the] Premier League, it's coming strong here, we want intensity [in the play]."
Ten Hag also feels the slow-motion and freeze-frame nature of VAR reviews does not help because he believes it makes everything look worse than in reality.
"Everyone who knows something about football, and of course, when you freeze it, it looks bad," Ten Hag said. "But everyone who knows something about football, who was acting on top football, they know what is bad, what isn't bad and what is fair.
"And I tell you: Casemiro is a really fair player. Tough but fair.
"Casemiro is across European games, over 500 games he never had a [straight] red card. Now he has two.
"Think about that. He plays tough, but he plays fair. And also in this, he's playing fair, same as against Crystal Palace, so it's very debatable.
"And if they isolate one [incident] – it's a little bit the same as against Crystal Palace, definitely.
"When you saw that incident, you should have sent off three or four players and not only one [Casemiro], if you're really consistent."
Liverpool 1-0 Real Betis: Szoboszlai gets Slot era up and running
Dominik Szoboszlai's goal was the difference as Arne Slot's first game in charge of Liverpool with spectators present ended in a 1-0 win over Real Betis in Pittsburgh.
Liverpool lost 1-0 in a behind-closed-doors meeting with Preston North End last week, but they were victors in sweltering conditions when their pre-season tour of the United States got under way on Friday.
Szoboszlai scored the only goal after 34 minutes, stroking his finish past Adrian after Mohamed Salah slipped a pass through to the Hungary international.
That goal came four minutes after Curtis Jones was forced off through injury, being replaced by 17-year-old Trey Nyoni.
Former Reds goalkeeper Adrian denied Conor Bradley as a strong Liverpool side chased a second, while Harvey Elliott nodded wide from a Kostas Tsimikas cross.
After Slot rang the changes with 63 minutes gone, Kaide Gordon missed Liverpool's best chance to make it 2-0 by dragging his effort wide, but it did not matter as a controlled performance saw the Reds home.
Data Debrief: Reds in cruise control
Slot had been expected to bring a slightly more measured approach than the "heavy metal football" preached by his predecessor Jurgen Klopp, and that was on full display on Friday as Betis were held at arm's length.
Liverpool enjoyed 62.7% of the possession throughout the match, though Slot will be looking for more penetration when they face Arsenal in the next game of their tour on Wednesday, having only recorded 12 touches in the penalty area to Betis' 10.
Sessegnon rejoins boyhood club Fulham after Tottenham departure
Ryan Sessegnon has resigned for Fulham on a free transfer, five years after leaving the club.
The 24-year-old signed a two-year contract with the Cottagers with the option to extend for a further year following his departure from Tottenham last month.
In his first spell at the club, Sessegnon worked his way through the academy over 11 years, scoring 25 goals in 120 first-team appearances.
He then moved to Spurs in a £25million deal in 2019, though struggled to nail down a place in North London, making just 57 appearances in all competitions, and scoring three goals.
"It's amazing to be back. Emotional, as well," he told FFCtv. "It's where it started for me, where everything began, and it's amazing to be back.
"It will always be home for me. I think it had the feeling that it was meant to be, coming back here, so I'm delighted to get it done."
Sessegnon is Fulham's first signing of the transfer window, though they have seen plenty of first-team departures already, with Joao Palhinha, Tosin Adarabioyo and Bobby De Cordova-Reid all leaving the club.
Dewsbury-Hall: Maresca will surprise people at Chelsea
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall believes new Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca will "surprise a lot of people" when they watch the Blues this season.
The Italian led Leicester City straight back to the Premier League as Championship winners in his only season in charge and succeeds Mauricio Pochettino at Stamford Bridge.
The Foxes topped the second division table with 98 points, with Dewsbury-Hall a key figure in his squad as he netted 12 goals and provided 14 assists last season – his best tally in a single campaign.
Dewsbury-Hall was also named Leicester's Player and Players' Player of the Year.
The midfielder made the switch to West London earlier this month for £30million and is confident that Maresca will have Chelsea challenging for trophies in no time.
"The manager was a big catalyst in wanting me to come," Dewsbury-Hall told BBC Sport.
"I knew from Leicester, a club that went down and had a lot of problems, how he managed to galvanise that if everyone manages to buy into the system.
"I genuinely think in a short space of time we can be pushing for minimum top four - but more than that.
"He may be unknown for a lot of people, but he is top, top level. He will surprise a lot of people."
Chelsea's pre-season got off to a frustrating start as they were held to a 2-2 draw by League One side Wrexham in Maresca's first game in charge on Wednesday.
Dewsbury-Hall did not play in that match but is training with the squad in the United States and could feature in their next outing against Celtic on Saturday.
The 25-year-old is confident the manager's tactics will come across soon, with the players buying into his style.
"We've only been doing it for two or three weeks, but the combination plays are really quick and tidy," he added.
"That's after two weeks. I remember he said to us at Leicester after six months or a year, there might be teething problems at the start, but it will improve.
"Within the first week at Leicester, I was convinced this was top, top level. I felt a bit stupid; I thought I knew a lot about football, but he was teaching me things on a daily basis that I didn't really know before. He has an aura, he can be strict, or gentle and soft - he has both sides.
"I am getting the same feedback here with the lads. They've bought into it here from minute one which is exciting. With a system and philosophy, you need everyone to buy in because, if they do, you can really achieve something."
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