Soccer:Alex Ferguson has accused Liverpool striker Fernando Torres of trying to get John O'Shea dismissed during Manchester United's 3-2 victory over their bitter north-west rivals on Sunday.
O'Shea escaped with a caution when he hauled down Torres on the edge of the United area as the visitors chased a second-half equaliser, but Ferguson effectively dismissed the Spaniard as a cheat when questioned about the incident after the match.
"I have watched it again. Fernando Torres made a meal of it, an absolute meal of it. There is no doubt he tried to get the player sent off," Ferguson said. His remarks were in sharp contrast to the measured response of his Liverpool counterpart.
"I prefer to talk about the game and talk about issues that interest me," declared Roy Hodgson. "Sir Alex is entitled to any opinion he wants to have but I'm not going to come here and say I agree or disagree.
"I thought the referee refereed the game very well and I have a very ambivalent attitude to those type of things. I am not a great lover of red cards for petty offences. Alex is a lot closer to it where he sits but my first thought when it happened was 'this is a foul' but I didn't think he should have been sent off.
"My staff around me jumped about saying he should have been sent off but I took a much calmer attitude towards it."
Ferguson glossed over the defensive frailties his side showed for the third league match running, after conceding late goals in draws at Fulham and Everton, to claim United should have been out of sight before Liverpool launched their comeback.
"From thinking to myself 'it's going to be 10' we ended up at 2-2," said the Scot. "It was a travesty of a scoreline then - but a great result at the end."
Hodgson again disagreed, saying: "I thought United played well but to undermine our performance is a little bit harsh."