Man Utd are playing against refs – Moyes

David Moyes claimed Manchester United are "having to play referees" as well as the opposition after watching his side's Capital One Cup semi-final first-leg defeat at Sunderland.

The United boss was upset when Adam Johnson won a penalty which led to Fabio Borini's winner in the 2-1 loss.

"We're having to play them [referees] as well as the opposition at the moment," he told Sky Sports.

"It's really terrible. We're actually beginning to laugh at them."

Referee Andre Marriner awarded the hosts the penalty on the advice of one of his assistants after Johnson had gone down under Tom Cleverley's challenge.

Sunderland had taken a half-time lead through Ryan Giggs's own goal and although Nemanja Vidic's header levelled matters soon after the restart, Borini's penalty gives the Black Cats the upper hand going into the second leg at Old Trafford on 22 January.

Earlier this month Moyes said it was "scandalous" Manchester United were not awarded a late penalty in their Premier League defeat by Tottenham at Old Trafford.

After their latest defeat he said: "How could the linesman give that [the penalty]? The ref was looking straight at it but the linesman would have to have seen straight through Patrice Evra to give it.

"We had a player booked for a similar thing that they got a penalty for the other day.

"The decision for the first goal, I don't see how it was a free-kick - that doesn't take away our poor defending from the free-kick though."

Tuesday's defeat means United have lost three straight games for the first time since 2001, having been knocked out of the FA Cup by Swansea on Saturday following their 2-1 defeat by Spurs.

Moyes, who succeeded Sir Alex Ferguson in the summer, has also seen his side make a difficult start to the Premier League as they sit 11 points behind leaders Arsenal.

His predecessor sat alongside former midfielders Sir Bobby Charlton and Bryan Robson in the stands at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday night.
Asked if their presence was an added pressure, he said: "Not at all. Alex is a great sounding-board for me.

He is there to help, so is Sir Bobby.

"He is terrific. Bryan Robson is at the training ground regularly, I speak to him regularly. I find the three of them terrific."
Despite the defeat, the former Everton manager still expects to win a place in the Capital One Cup final at Wembley.

"This is a two-legged game and I'm actually really looking forward to this," he added.

"More important is how good the Manchester United supporters were - how well they supported me and how well they supported the club.

"They realise we are having a difficult time right now, they are not used to this, but that is what good supporters do, they stick with their team, they stick with their manager."