Manchester United were not happy with the circumstances of Brentford's goal as they went behind in Saturday evening's goal, it would be fair to say.
Matthijs de Ligt had bust himself open on the top of his head in the 11th minute after his attempt to head the ball caught Kevin Schade on the knee after the Brentford man had knocked it over him.
The defender received treatment on the pitch and played on for most of the rest of the half without a bandage, but the bleeding kept resuming and the referee sent him to the sidelines for a third time after seeing that he had quite a lot of fresh blood in his hair after he blocked a cross late in the half.
Darren Fletcher protests 'could lead to charge' for Manchester United
Brentford's Ethan Pinnock scored against ten men from the ensuing corner, much to Manchester United's and De Ligt's protests, because apparently it was the referee's fault that they didn't think to just give the defender's head a proper dressing at any point, or that nobody else picked up Pinnock's run.
The Laws of the Game are very clear that among other duties, the referee: "ensures that any player bleeding leaves the field of play. The player may only re-enter on receiving a signal from the referee, who must be satisfied that the bleeding has stopped and there is no blood on the equipment."
Manager Erik ten Hag and his assistant Ruud van Nistelrooy were booked for their protests, and the Manchester Evening News write that coach Darren Fletcher could still be seen remonstrating with the fourth official in the tunnel.
The Mirror add that United and Fletcher could now face an FA charge for Fletcher's fury, with the words 'anxious wait' of course invoked, as is tabloid law.
All that affected injustice turned out to be moot in the end anyway as Alejandro Garnacho equalised immediately after the break before Rasmus Hojlund won it for United just after the hour.
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The result puts United 11th in the Premier League table, a point ahead of 13th-placed Brentford.
Ten Hag's side will travel to face Fenerbahce in the Europa League on Thursday evening before going away to West Ham United on Sunday afternoon.
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