In Glen David Gold’s fictional biography of legendary magician Carter the Great, our hero quickly learns that the crucial skill a conjuror must master is that of misdirection. Nowadays, there is no finer exponent of the art than Sir Alex Ferguson.

Although no one bought his criticism of referee Alan Wiley’s fitness as anything other that a poor attempt at masking his team’s underperformance, it didn’t matter. Thousands of words were still consumed exploring the accusation as though it was legitimate, far more, for example, than were directed towards his team selection. So effectively, everyone fell for it yet again anyway, victims, yet again, of the arch dissembler.

That Fergie’s comments were churlish and incorrect is beyond doubt, but his point about Continental referees is not without some validity; the standard is remarkably low, an observation that becomes more glaring with almost every European game. In his day, Jeff Winter was one of the very worst, but nonetheless I was interested to read what he had to say this week - words I never thought anyone would ever write, least of all me. Anyway, hidden within the usual self-promoting drivel was this:

“I think referees will be so incensed about this that Sir Alex may find that United no longer get the benefit of the doubt on certain decisions.”

Clearly we need to take anything he says with an enormous pinch of lard – this is a man who thought that an end of season ovation from The Kop was partly in his honour. But if there’s something he might know about that we don’t, then it’s this, and what a this it is; according to Winter, the game is currently bent in United’s favour, and as a result of Fergie’s outburst, we should expect it to become bent the other way. He went on to suggest that Wiley sue for defamation; perhaps his ex-colleagues should be suing him.

The notion of institutional favouritism has long been a staple of the vanquished, and this seems a suitable occasion to explore it. Thus, consider:

Eric Cantona responded violently to an individual fan who insulted him, and was banned for nine months, but when Didier Drogba violently threw a coin into a crowd aimed at whoever it happened to hit, he was banned for three games; Craig Bellamy, unprovoked, assaulted a supporter during a game and was fined, but when Patrice Evra was wound up by a member of Chelsea’s groundstaff during a warm-down, his attempted assault netted him a four game suspension; Roy Keane admitted deliberately injuring an opponent in his autobiography, for which he was banned for five games, but when Michael Owen did the same in his, nothing happened; Christian Negouai missed a drug test and was fined £2000, but when Rio Ferdinand did so a few weeks later, the FA suspended him for eight months.

As Rio himself might say, res ipsa loquitor.

As far as refereeing decisions go, from my perspective – certainly biased, but also pretty extensively researched - for every bum one United get there’s at least one that goes the other way. The difference in perception is because generally, the latter is neither crucial nor repeated on television more times than Mary Poppins.

The game against Sunderland encapsulated this in perfect microcosm. During the first half, Andy Reid appeared to handle the ball in his own area, but nothing was given. ESPN’s commentators then watched a replay, agreed it was a penalty, and didn’t mention it again.

If Old Trafford is as quiet as people say, then it’s hard to believe that any visiting officials can be intimidated by 76,000 fans; in fact it’s often appeared as though they’re more intimidated by the outcry should they give United a marginal decision. You’d expect a team that spends sustained periods in opposition penalty boxes to receive significantly more penalty kicks than other teams, and yet they do not. And when United are away, referees have to contend with tighter, usually half-empty grounds, now full of fans apoplectic with one-way rivalry (even though like any home advantage advantage, its existence is an imaginary construct that preys on the mentally frail).

There’s a feeling that some officials are scared of upsetting Fergie, but it also works the other way. On Saturday, the only plausible explanation for nothing being added to the minimum of four added minutes, despite United scoring in that time, is that Wiley couldn’t be doing with the hassle that’d follow another seemingly impossible turnaround.

But as with the unawarded penalty, that’s just not why we didn’t win. As fighters are fond of saying, never leave it in the hands of the judges. If you do, you deserve what you get.

And United deserved what they got. Resting players now to keep them fresh for later may have become a necessity, but if you get too cocky in the process, occasionally it’ll rebound on you. Fergie was silly not to start at least one of Anderson and Carrick, in the groove after excellent midweek efforts, but the omission from the squad of his emergency Giggs, with an international break imminent, was utterly inexplicable. On the plus side, it was nice to see Welbeck given a game, even if it wasn’t in his natural position, just a shame that he was let down by teammates whose collective display was as poor as poverty.

If this was unforeseeable, the contribution of Foster certainly was not, his mistakes punished in points for the first time. Whilst not saving the excellent early shot that gave Sunderland their first goal was forgivable, mincing away from the cross that led to their second was not. Physical shirking is never acceptable, and must be punished severely; I hope Micky Phelan tied him naked to a goalpost and got Scholes and Rooney over to do some shooting practice.

For the last few seasons, home games against middling sides have been won fairly comfortably, Ronaldo’s remarkable knack for delivering morale-crushing early goals not giving the others much of a chance to underperform. At the start of the season it was suggested that the team might struggle to score in his absence, but in fact they’re finding it easier; the problem is keeping them out. Form’s obviously a factor, but the configuration of the team is another; with its major source of goals gone, others have taken on greater attacking responsibility and the team is set up to facilitate that; good.

Sunderland, of course, played very well, although will be disappointed that their best wasn’t enough to beat United’s worst. I promised myself I wouldn’t mention Kieran Richardson and his pigtail, but just when you thought the man with the most hittable face in football couldn’t look any more stupid, he goes and gets himself sent off in the way that he did. He really is thicker than a five dollar shake full of scousers.

Moving away from United, FIFA vice president Jack Warner made the headlines this week, after he panned England’s World Cup bid, and what a truly devastating panning it was:

“I came here and was shocked that I got a bag for Australia at the entrance...why isn’t there a bag for England?”

Ah, presents for freeloaders, the cornerstone of any successful tournament. And there’s more:

“My colleagues are saying very quietly that the guys who are coming to them are lightweight. This is the type of thing that loses you a bid…If I had the Premier League, Beckham and the Queen there would have been many things I could have done for the people who are voting”.

Yes, apparently it’s also important that these freeloaders meet their favourite celebrities, rather than waste their valuable speaking to those running the bid.

Most telling, though, is his advice to be “more aggressive in the market place”. At last, something we can take in good faith. You see, market place aggression - unlike organising World Cups - is something in which Mr Warner has no little expertise. After the last World Cup, for example, Ernst & Young - FIFA’s auditors - estimated that his family made a profit of almost $1 million selling tickets on the black market, and all the misdirection in the world shouldn’t distract us from that.

"I think referees will be so incensed about this that Sir Alex may find that United no longer get the benefit of the doubt on certain decisions."

Clearly we need to take anything he says with an enormous pinch of lard – this is a man who thought that an end of season ovation from The Kop was partly in his honour. But if there's something he might know about that we don't, then it's this, and what a this it is; according to Winter, the game is currently bent in United's favour, and as a result of Fergie's outburst, we should expect it to become bent the other way. He went on to suggest that Wiley sue for defamation; perhaps his ex-colleagues should be suing him.

The notion of institutional favouritism has long been a staple of the vanquished, and this seems a suitable occasion to explore it. Thus, consider:

Eric Cantona responded violently to an individual fan who insulted him, and was banned for nine months, but when Didier Drogba violently threw a coin into a crowd aimed at whoever it happened to hit, he was banned for three games; Craig Bellamy, unprovoked, assaulted a supporter during a game and was fined, but when Patrice Evra was wound up by a member of Chelsea's groundstaff during a warm-down, his attempted assault netted him a four-game suspension; Roy Keane admitted deliberately injuring an opponent in his autobiography, for which he was banned for five games, but when Michael Owen did the same in his, nothing happened; Christian Negouai missed a drug test and was fined £2000, but when Rio Ferdinand did the same but a few weeks later, the FA suspended him for eight months.

As Rio himself might say, res ipsa loquitor.

As far as refereeing decisions go, from my perspective – certainly biased, but also pretty extensively researched - for every bum one United get there's at least one that goes the other way. The difference in perception is because generally, the latter is neither crucial nor repeated on television more times than Mary Poppins.

The game against Sunderland encapsulated this in perfect microcosm. During the first half, Andy Reid appeared to handle the ball in his own area, but nothing was given. ESPN's commentators then watched a replay, agreed it was a penalty, and didn't mention it again.

If Old Trafford is as quiet as people say, then it's hard to believe that any visiting officials can be intimidated by 76,000 fans; in fact it's often appeared as though they're more intimidated by the outcry should they give United a marginal decision. For a team that spends long periods of games in opposition penalty boxes, you'd certainly expect them to receive significantly more than other teams, and yet they do not. And when United are away, referees have to contend with tighter, usually half-empty grounds, now full of fans apoplectic with one-way rivalry (even though like any home advantage advantage, its existence is an imaginary construct that preys on the mentally frail).

There's a feeling that some officials are scared of upsetting Fergie, but it also works the other way. On Saturday, the only plausible explanation for nothing being added to the minimum of four added minutes, despite United scoring in that time, is that Wiley couldn't be doing with the hassle that'd follow another seemingly impossible turnaround.

But as with the unawarded penalty, that's just not why we didn't win. As fighters are fond of saying, never leave it in the hands of the judges. If you do, you deserve what you get.

And United deserved what they got. Resting players now to keep them fresh for later may have become a necessity, but if you get too cocky in the process, occasionally it'll rebound on you. Fergie was silly not to start at least one of Anderson and Carrick, in the groove after excellent midweek efforts, but the omission from the squad of his emergency Giggs, with an international break imminent, was utterly inexplicable. On the plus side, it was nice to see Welbeck given a game, even if it wasn't in his natural position, just a shame that he was let down by teammates whose collective display was as poor as poverty.

If this was unforeseeable, the contribution of Foster certainly was not, his mistakes punished in points for the first time. Whilst not saving the excellent early shot that gave Sunderland their first goal was forgivable, mincing away from the cross that led to their second was not. Physical shirking is never acceptable, and must be punished severely; I hope Micky Phelan tied him naked to a goalpost and got Scholes and Rooney over to do some shooting practice.

For the last few seasons, home games against middling sides have been won fairly comfortably, Ronaldo's remarkable knack for delivering morale-crushing early goals not giving the others much of a chance to underperform. At the start of the season it was suggested that the team might struggle to score in his absence, but in fact they're finding it easier; the problem is keeping them out. Form's obviously a factor, but the configuration of the team is another; with its major source of goals gone, others have taken on greater attacking responsibility and the team is set up to facilitate that; good.

Sunderland, of course, played very well, although will be disappointed that their best wasn't enough to beat United's worst. I promised myself I wouldn't mention Kieran Richardson and his pigtail, but just when you thought the man with the most hittable face in football couldn't look any more stupid, he goes and gets himself sent off in the way that he did. He really is thicker than a five dollar shake full of scousers.

Moving away from United, FIFA vice president Jack Warner made the headlines this week, after he panned England's World Cup bid, and what a truly devastating panning it was:

"I came here and was shocked that I got a bag for Australia at the entrance...why isn't there a bag for England?"

Ah, presents for freeloaders, the cornerstone of any successful tournament. And there's more:

"My colleagues are saying very quietly that the guys who are coming to them are lightweight. This is the type of thing that loses you a bid...If I had the Premier League, Beckham and the Queen there would have been many things I could have done for the people who are voting".

Yes, apparently it's also important that these freeloaders meet their favourite celebrities, rather than waste their valuable speaking to those running the bid.

Most telling, though, is his advice to be "more aggressive in the market place". At last, something we can take in good faith. You see, market place aggression - unlike organising World Cups - is something in which Mr Warner has no little expertise. After the last World Cup, for example, Ernst & Young - FIFA's auditors - estimated that his family made a profit of almost $1 million selling tickets on the black market, and all the misdirection in the world shouldn't distract us from that.