FA told what should happen to Bruno Fernandes as Man United controversy swirls

Despite having a man advantage, as a result of Foden's dismissal, Michael Carrick's United failed to capitalise. The debate over a potential sanction for Fernandes for his involvement in the incident continues with ex-professionals believing that the midfielder was fortunate not to be punished for appearing to kick out at his City rival initially.

Foden went down under the challenge from Fernandes initially before the midfielder looked to have struck the England international in the back, before the City academy graduate retaliated. It has led to the condemnation of the United star's actions with Jamie Carragher joining the debate after Roy Keane and Jay Bothroyd felt that the 32-year-old was fortunate to come away from the incident unpunished.

MEN Sport writers have offered their opinion on whether the United man should have been punished...

I didn't think there was a great deal in what did Fernandes did and a retrospective punishment would be very harsh. He could have been booked and that would have been fair, but nothing beyond that.

This feels like the type of incident you watch in slow motion and it looks worse than it is, because it makes it look and feel like Fernandes has more thinking time than he actually does. In reality, this is a split-second reaction.

Watch it in real time and Fernandes goes to kick the ball before Foden has fallen on it and got in the way. He ends up reducing the force of his kick because Foden has gone down. Now, I think Fernandes knew what he was doing and probably knew he might catch Foden, but the ball was there when he began the action and that makes it a very different incident from Foden's reaction.

Naive, petty and unnecessary. The actions of Phil Foden and Bruno Fernandes weren’t even particularly fiery. Phil Foden receiving a red card while Fernandes remained on the pitch does seem unfair, however. At least the City star had the excuse of being provoked into a reaction…

The kicking actions probably deserved the same punishment. Fernandes knew exactly what he was doing.

Whether either player should have been sent off? I don’t think either could complain about such a decision but I don’t think there would have been too many complaints if both picked up a yellow. Maybe Fernandes could have received a second for the manner of his reaction to Foden’s tap.

In sum, both players probably needed to be told by their managers to give their heads a shake.

If Michael Oliver had seen Bruno Fernandes' subtle kick at Phil Foden in real time, I’m almost certain the same punishment would have been given to both players.

Foden ultimately reacting the way he has, and Fernandes for that matter, has given him a decision to make. Whether it is the right one or not is arguably still up for debate but to not even give Fernandes a yellow card felt ridiculous.

Neither kick felt violent or endangering an opponent and given the magnitude of the game, keeping it 11vs11 should be a priority. A booking for both Foden and Fernandes would have sufficed in my opinion.

As for retrospective action, the incident was dealt with on the pitch and at the time so is essentially out of the FA’s remit.

Even if it hadn’t, I do feel as though it wasn’t bad enough to need them getting involved after the fact.

I have no doubt about the incident; if Phil Foden is shown a red card, then Bruno Fernandes should have been sent off too. While not a full on kick - there is definitely a deliberate movement of Fernandes’ foot towards Foden.

I do wonder if the City man had made more of it, then there would have been a different outcome. As much as we don’t want to see players rolling around on the floor, it does feel that’s what contributed to the decision, with Fernandes reacting the way he did to Foden’s kick out.

I think both actions deserved the same punishment, overall, the one thing we all want as football fans is consistency from the officials. I wouldn’t have complained if both players were shown a yellow card for the incident.

But the fact that Foden was sent off, means that Bruno should have seen red too. It will be interesting to see if any retrospective action is taken.

They were unpleasant and spiteful, but is it really ‘Violent’ conduct? Were either player in danger or injuring each other? The definition of violent conduct as seemingly moved from being a dangerous act to any remotely physical incident taking place off the ball.

Precedent has already been set with many high-profile petty incidents receiving straight red cards. However, in the spirit of consistency, Fernandes must be banned, ideally for the same amount of time as Foden.

Had the City star rolled around on the floor in staged agony, Fernandes may have seen red. If you throw the book at Foden, it must also be hurled at Fernandes. Yet, football needs to take a look at itself and decide whether we want to see straight red cards be handed out for situations like this and whether the game is improved by doing so.

Bruno Fernandes does feel like an easy target in this whole debacle. There are different ways to look at it, one of them being about how Foden came to the conclusion to react in the heat of the moment.

There are many cases down the football history timeline of moments of madness, David Beckham being one of them, but little was made of Diego Simeone's role in the England star kicking out and subsequently being sent off.

What Fernandes did was silly and could have given the referee a decision to make in the early stages of a huge game for United. The action from the Portuguese will be looked upon in the 'housery' archives for years to come but it feels like it has been blown out of proportion and is deflecting on a real missed opportunity for United.

Fernandes was somewhat fortunate not to be booked but it isn't a red card, there's no malicious intent involved. It's highly unlikely he'll receive any retrospective punishment either. Let's just all move on.

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