Sir Alex Ferguson and Carlos Queiroz, his assistant manager, are expected to be charged by the FA after their outbursts at Martin Atkinson, the referee, in the wake of Manchester United’s FA Cup sixth-round defeat at home to Portsmouth on Saturday.

The FA announced yesterday that it was reviewing Ferguson’s postmatch interview, in which he was critical of Atkinson’s performance, but it is also examining comments from Queiroz, who called the referee “a disgrace” and referred to him as “this robber”.

The FA was surprised by the ferocity of the United reaction on Saturday evening and of the level of criticism of Atkinson’s performance. Ferguson also lambasted the appointments of match officials made by Keith Hackett, the general manager of Professional Game Match Officials Ltd, saying: “He has his favourites, as everyone knows”, and that he is “not doing his job properly”.

The PGMO responded in a statement yesterday, saying: “This is clearly a matter for the Football Association. As a point of information, Keith Hackett has no responsibility for the selection of match officials for FA Cup games.”

There were few arguments when Atkinson sent off Tomasz Kuszczak, the United substitute goalkeeper, and awarded the penalty from which Sulley Muntari scored the only goal of the game with 12 minutes remaining, but Ferguson and Queiroz were furious that the referee did not clamp down on an “overaggressive approach” from Portsmouth and his refusal to award United an early penalty when Sylvain Distin appeared to barge over Cristiano Ronaldo.

“We accept the penalty against us, but what we cannot accept are referees who watch only one side,” Queiroz said. “That cannot happen. It is unacceptable in our game. This referee was a disgrace. He didn’t do his job. We did our job, Portsmouth did their job, but the referee didn’t do his.

“Sadly, we still have referees who don’t understand what is the right thing in the game and who they should be protecting. It is a pity and I feel sorry that the game has moved to a situation where the referees deserve red cards. This referee deserves somebody to come to the side of the pitch after five minutes, give him a red card and pull him out of the game.” Ronaldo was also outspoken on the matter, saying that Portsmouth’s aggression made him “scared to play with my skills”.

The defeat came at a cost for United, with Edwin van der Sar, the goalkeeper, aggravating a groin injury in the first half and Kuszczak, his deputy, suspended for the trip to Derby County on Saturday.