if the f.a. really were surprised by the ferocity of the united reaction, then it is fairly easy to see where the problem lies.

sure, john, united could have taken their chances. but portsmouth defended well (if illegally) and sometimes it's just not your day. what you don't want, under those circumstances, is a referee who tips the balance in favour of the other team.

do you think united would have missed the chance they would have had if they'd been given a penalty? do think they wouldn't have taken advantage of diarra being sent off? do you think, in fact that the whole game would have taken on a different complexion if it had been clear to portsmouth they had to play football and if united had been 1-0 up after ten minutes?

we'll never know. but the referee was poor. typically poor. diarra was man-of-the-mathc, like hamann for city a couple of weeks ago. it's easy to be an enforcer when you are cheating.

jem, london, uk

Yes, Utd should have had a penalty, but yes, Rooney should probably have been sent off for his lunge.

It's the human factor which makes mistakes, although generally, as in this case, they seem to balance themselves out.

Utd had plenty of chances, but if you don't take them you get punished.

Terry, Bagneres, France

Senior people at top clubs should be subject of FA charges. If they have no discipline its no surprise this attitude is mirrored by the players-and their behaviour on the field should also be more accountable. If players and managers were unable to put such extreme pressure on officials they might be more able to make better decisions. The problem is the punishment for the managers and coaches, there is no effective deterent for them. The penalties should be much harsher.

P thomas, swansea,

Is it the referees fault that Rooney choked and with only the goalkeeper to beat fluffed a simple opportunity that the likes of Tevez, Ronaldo or Torres would have put away without blinking. Alex should look a lot closer to home to explain this defeat. Also Rooney should have been sent off after his lunging tackle. Even though he luckily did not make contact the intention was clear.

Frank, Southport, UK

rooney should have got a red card - an distin incident was shoulder to shoulder -\ i dont think ive ever seen c.ronaldo leave the box without either falling over or scoring a goal?

Paul Nemrin, Sydney, Australia

I dont think Sir Alex and his deputy as said anything bad at all about the referee.The referee doesn't know his job and if this kind of attitude should continue, that means Football game as turned to something else. There should be check and balances on the Referees.
Well, Red Devils you need to forget about the FA now, you need to move forward and put your best in your next matches because it is a must for you to win the Champions League 'cos you are best best team in europe at the moment.
Job weldone Sir Alex.

Temmywext, Enugu, Nigeria

I don't think it's a matter of european referees. Man Utd had other chances during the game, but they couldn't score - was it one of those days! But how is it when managers have there say about the refereeing they face FA charges, and when a referee doesn't do his job preperly and causes a team dearly - as it could have been like this an FA Cup se4mi final or even worse a team's relegation.
For me it was a clear blatant foul on Ronaldo and a clear penalty - so the referee is at fault here and the FA should take notice of these acts by the referee.
So a manager gets charged, a referee maybe he isn't chosen to referee the next week after and what about the damage to the teams.

Dennis Axisa, Tarxien, Malta

I totally agree with you Robert. I don't see how Man U get charged just by speaking their mind. And I don't think that the referee was doing his job. He seemed to turn his blind eyes to those tackles against C. Ronaldo. I do understand that Soccer is a tackle sport and I am not complaining about the tackles, but any unfair or illegal tackles aught to be called. Otherwise, we would just remove the referee altogether. What is the point of having the referee on the pitch and they make no calls to the aggressors. Just want to see "who do the crimes do the times". That's all.

PS. Man U didn't lose the game to Portsmouth; They lost the game to the absolute power of the referee.

That's my 2 cents.

Tommy Pang, Calgary, Canada

Did anybody here notice that Ferguson never bring this bullying attitude when ManU plays in Europe? I wonder what the reason why? Maybe continental referees are not susciptible to his intimidation, or language barrier, perhaps? I hardly see him rant, he seem always timid to the point of...looking scared?

Antonio, BIRMINGHAM,

I just think the way Ferguson, Queros and most of the other premiership managers consistently blame referees and not 1) give credit to the other team or 2)put a certain amount of responsibility at the doors of their own players, is absolutely pathetic.
How refreshing it was to hear the comments of the England Rugby team and manager; "credit to Scotland', "we just didn't perform", etc, etc.
I know it may come as a shock to Ferguson but people are allowed to tackle even holier than thou players like Rooney and Ronaldo, and when they do get tackled it would be good, just for a change, for them to accept it instead of looking at the referee disbelievingly and screaming obscenities at them.
Get over it and move on.

Paul, Surrey, UK

Yes I remember how incenced Fergie was when the referee did not see a Spurs' shot was clearly over the line a few seasons ago thus denying them the points that would have meant them playing Champions League football that next season.

I remember how passionately Fergie campaigned to get this kind of bias out of football when perfectly good goals aginst his team were disallowed by poor refereeing.

Whatever happened to that brave campaign anyway?

Stephen Rothbart, Prague,

Fergie boycotts the BBC because he didn't like something they said - a situation that every one seems to find acceptable.. How about the worm turning, and the referees association boycotting Man U (and other clubs) until they learn how to behave?

Nigel, Woking,

I would expect more dignity from Sir Alex and Co.

In the current climate Rooney was guilty of the worst challenge in the game and was lucky not to get a red card for a lunge which was far mor dangerous than a good old fashioned shoulder barge.

Everyone knows Ronaldo does dive. He is a big strong guy and perhaps needs to look in the mirror (more than he actually does at the moment), and make more of an effort to stay on his feet, rather than rolling around, begging and whinging like he does at the moment.

Then he may come the great player he thinks he is.

Richard, Batley,

It is amazing how Fergie can lambast the ref for allowing "overlty aggressive" defending when Arsenal face that every week. Everyone knows that teams set out to hound them and "rough" them up to staop their play.

And when Arsene Wenger complains - he is told that this is the Premiership and that is what you get.

Like the previous comment - Fergie needs to learn to lose better, unfortunately he does not get enough practise at it.

Hilton, Manchester,

dj, both players were not running for the ball. distin stepped across ronaldo's path and made no attempt to play the ball. it was no different to diarra's challenge in the first minute.

it's not a coincidence refs are bad when united lose. they're bad when we win. see the last round against arsenal, for example.

and it's a myth that united get loads of decisions at home. there have been a series of blatant penalties denied for years and teams get to kick ronaldo and nani all day long.

you can bet fergie had a go at the players as well for not creating and converting chances. I doubt he had too much of a go at anderson and rooney for chasing the same man or kuszczak for not getting his head out of the way of baros's knee, though.

united probably should have won, although you might give credit to portsmouth's defending (some of it was even legal), but that doesn't change the fact that the referee was awful.

jem, london, uk

Has anyone else not noticed the coincidence that the referee always seems to have an awful game when Man Utd lose? Seems strange that the responsibilty can't be placed on an inability to convert one of 20 chances, or on a goalkeeper who makes a rash challenge with his only contribution of the game.

Unfortunately sometimes Ferguson has to accept defeat graciously. I'm sure he'll get ample practice over the remainder of the season.

Alex, Swindon,

'Sir Alex is dead right to speak his mind after being robbed for the most obvious clear-cut penelty of the season. However, defenders will clearly be delighted by the referee decision. Rugby tackling style on the football pitch have now sadly been introduced....with inpunity'

If anything, tackling is far less severe that it was in days gone by. The 'penalty' incident, was two players both running for the ball, clashing shoulder to shoulder, and one showing more strength and desire to win the ball. When the result was not a penalty, the only reason for all this fuss is because MU didn't get a penalty at home.

DJ, Norwich,

Sir Alex is dead right to speak his mind after being robbed for the most obvious clear-cut penelty of the season. However, defenders will clearly be delighted by the referee decision. Rugby tackling style on the football pitch have now sadly been introduced....with inpunity

Paal Ingebrigtsen, Bergen, Norway

Its the old story Ferguson and United playing politics. Putting pressure on future referees to give them the benefit of 50/50 verdicts.
A fine for both of them will have little effect on them . They have been doing this for years and getting more for than against them. Ferguson is a wily old bugger and he will gladly accept the 10 grand fine if it gets him a few decisions extra from a rewferee who is frightened of upsetting him. United had enough chances to win and didn't take them . Why don't they just bite the bullet and accept it.

John S, Liverpool,

Ronaldo was also outspoken on the matter, saying that Portsmouth’s aggression made him “scared to play with my skills”.

Well I had to have a laugh about this one. So what he is saying is the defence did their job. He got a kick and showed he was not up for the fight.

How many times did you hear George Best, or Dennis Law crying about defenders giving them a kick? Those guys used to get almost chopped in half 10 times a game (not to mention tackled from behind), but it never stopped them playing 'with their skills'.

MU, and the other 'big' clubs need to learn that the referee is not employed simply to ensure they win their games.

DJ, Norwich,

The worst of the comments, without doubt, was that of Queiroz bringing up the Martin Taylor tackle. Tackles that cause injuries are not necessarily the worst ones. Rooney's lunge at Krancjar seemed to have far more "intent" than Taylor's as did Dirk Kuyt's effort to amputate one of Phil Neville's limbs in the Merseyside derby earlier in the season. It was just fortunate that neither of them made contact.
Man U are have hardly been the innocents over the years - Keane's tackle on Harlaand springs to mind and I can't recall Ferguson suggesting a life ban for him.
There is no doubt that the "big" clubs generally get a better deal from referees so a little humility from the Mancs would not go amiss.

Roy Clark, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

This was a match that Adrian Chiles on MOTD2 correctly summised as: "If they played that match 9 more times United would have won them all". Portsmouth were excellent, very difficult to breakdown and deserve credit for the victory. However, some of their defending was more through luck than skill, e.g. Distin off the line (his standing foot blocked the ball rather than kicking it) or Johnson on the line where Tevez seemed to kick the ball at his head instead of the rest of the goal.

United didn't help themselves though; it is difficult to understand why they would continue to put crosses into the box when Portsmouth's defence is a) taller, b) extremely strong and c) United's forwards are miniscule.

Such is football, and I hope that Portsmouth can go on and win the Cup now; their ability to defend attack after attack and sucker-punch is definately a winning combination.

John Hope, London,

Utd graciously concedes defeat BUT Atkinson must take stick for the awful decisions he made!!
FA is a big time pretender!! Why can't it invetsigate the matter surrounding Fergie/Que rantings? Of course 4 ever, Atkinson will be haunted by the OT spirit!

Andrew Akutu, Kampala, Uganda

I take it the right way Carlos is to award all the decisions in favour of Man Utd?

We all know just how difficult it is for Man Utd to get any penalty decisions at Old Trafford and how the away teams always get better treatment from the referees.

The only solution is to deduct at least 5 points from this team for this outburst, it will be the only way to make these people think.

A fine will make no difference at all!

Brian Jupp, Rickmansworth, UK

United should have had a penalty when Ronaldo was brought down by Distin. Fair point. The inconsistency in refereeing needs attention. But Queros was shameful in raising Taylor of Birmigham City, given Rooney's mid air lunge , studs showing at a Portsmouth player. Utd lost because they failed to take their chances and determined defending by Portsmouth. They have only themselves to blame. Poor team selection was also a factor. Hargreaves was inept and should have been subbed earlier. Utd learn to lose with dignity

john, reading, UK

The FA cannot be criticised - everyone knows that! The most ineffective, useless Football Association in the developed world will not tolerate insubordination from mere professionals with only half a century of experience. A massive fine is called for.

eddie foster, mirthios, crete, Greece

Rather than the ManU management bringing the game into disrepute it is the referee that could be charged with that misdemeanour. I fail to see how speaking the truth can be regarded as an offence.

Robert Edwards, Sydney, Australia