Michael Carrick admits he was left baffled after Sunderland didn’t have a man sent off for a late foul on Middlesbrough star Emmanuel Latte Lath.
Boro were beaten 1-0 at the Stadium of Light after Chris Rigg’s backheeled effort in the first half to hand the Tees-Wear bragging rights to the hosts.
Middlesbrough only had one shot on target across 90 minutes and their wait to win back-to-back games in the away leg of this derby fixture for the first time since 2006 goes on.
Michael Carrick says Trai Hume should’ve been sent off for reckless challenge
Before Sunderland took the lead it was Middlesbrough controlling possession as they looked to break the deadlock.
Just nine minutes into the game, Latte Lath was driving towards goal before being scythed down by Sunderland’s Trai Hume.
Replays of the challenge showed that the Sunderland defender was extremely late and could’ve easily been shown a red, but referee Simon Hooper deemed the challenge after the game.
Carrick’s side would go on to lose the game and he claimed that the “massive decision” made by Hooper affected the outcome.
“It’s 100% a red card for the challenge on Manu,” he said.
“I don’t get why that’s not been given. For me, it’s a case of when’s the line of time. When it happens so early they say it’s too early so it’s a yellow card because they don’t want to send someone off. When is the time it becomes a red card? I don’t know.
“It’s a bit of a grey area for me. I don’t know if that is the reason, but it’s hard to understand why that isn’t given. I’ve not spoken to the referee about it, just the fourth official, and calmly, I may add.”
Michael Carrick claims Latte Lath challenge affected his performance
Latte Lath was the subject of plenty of interest in the summer but has failed to hit the heights of last season so far.
Once again the number nine couldn’t find the back of the net but Carrick believes that the late-timed challenge from Hume de-railed his number nine.
The Boro boss said: “In terms of how he is, he managed to get through the game.”
“It’s a massive decision. Twice we’ve been here with me as manager and there’s been red cards which have had a massive impact on the game. Today was that.
“We spoke about that going out, managing that and playing close to the edge without going over the edge. I thought we managed that really well. But then we were relying on that when it goes the other way, and it didn’t go our way