Superb result for Pompey indeed, even if it came in somewhat controversial circumstances. I saw the first half and watched the final fifteen minutes on the Tele at the Madejski before our game with City kicked off, and i could not believe it when i saw Rio Ferdinand in goal as Muntari dispatched his spot kick. On the heated decisions, i initially thought Distin had done very well against Ronaldo, yet on further inspection i think he just played the man and a penalty should have been given. The Pompey penalty was debatable yet Kuszack was always running a serious risk going to ground in that manner, although a red i feel was supremely harsh.

Get result for Pompey.

Laughing at Ferguson's rant.

I only saw the highlights on MOTD, so don't want to comment on refereeing decisions, but this is a bit from the Laws of the Game, relating to fouls etc, and note the highlighted piece, whether or not you agree with it:

A direct free kick is awarded to the opposing team if a player commits
any of the following six offences in a manner considered by the referee
to be careless, reckless or using excessive force:
• kicks or attempts to kick an opponent
• trips or attempts to trip an opponent
• jumps at an opponent
• charges an opponent
• strikes or attempts to strike an opponent
• pushes an opponent
A direct free kick is also awarded to the opposing team if a player
commits any of the following four offences:
• tackles an opponent to gain possession of the ball, making contact
with the opponent before touching the ball
• holds an opponent
• spits at an opponent
• handles the ball deliberately (except for the goalkeeper within his
own penalty area)
A direct free kick is taken from where the offence occurred.

Ferguson told MUTV: "It's absolutely ridiculous. I cannot explain it.

"Managers get sacked because of things like that and he's going to referee a game next week."

Ronaldo also revealed a lack of protection from officials had made him "scared" to play his natural game.

"Sometimes I say that this is the best league in the world, but sometimes they don't protect the skilful players," said the Portuguese winger.

"After what happened to the Arsenal player Eduardo da Silva, I am scared to do my skills.

"The referee against Portsmouth was unbelievable. In the first five minutes, there were three fouls and he took no action and then he failed to give a penalty. It's difficult to play like this.

"Sometimes they just protect the defenders and I am thinking about having to change my game because it is difficult to play like that.

"Diarra did not even try to play the ball when he tackled me and he wasn't even booked. It's a joke. So often, there were fouls and the referee did nothing."

"Hackett has got a lot to answer for in this country," said the Scot. "He's not doing his job properly.

"He should be assessed like everyone else is assessed. I'm assessed as a manager, the players are assessed, referees are assessed.

"Martin Atkinson will referee next week, no problem, but his performance today should not be accepted in our game.

"I agree with Sepp Blatter, the standards in our game as opposed to the Continent - the tolerance level - is behind Europe. I think it's a big problem."

They had great confidence to hang on knowing the referee was on their side.

"Lassana Diarra had eight or nine fouls in the match. It's incredible. I've got to agree with Arsene Wenger. Someone is going to get a serious injury in our game. He's had one himself with Eduardo.

"It's not a nice thing to talk about, but the treatment Ronaldo is getting I'm worried about him.

"Keith Hackett is in a nice, comfortable position and does nothing really. I don't think he makes a contribution to the referees' performances in our country.

"That should be addressed. He's not doing his job properly.

"That guy (Atkinson) will go and referee next week no problem. You see his favourites always get the games and that's disappointing."

Shut up Ferguson, Shut up Ronaldo.

They both need to shut the flock up and grow up,every team have suffered bad decisions from referees,Ferguson always reacts as if he's the only manager who suffers from them,get over it for gods sake,your team lost and you have been dumped out of the cup,it happens so move on

Just read those comments by SAF on the BBC, it is an impressive rant.

One of the most scathing interviews on referees if seen, needed to be said tho, hes got some valid points.

Even tho im going to sound like a conspiracy theorist again, decisions like this have been going against other teams all the time and now that its caught up to Manchester United theres really going to be trouble. I didnt hear him complaining when referee incompetence stopped his team losing at home to Spurs. And the fallout from that decision will be nothing compared to what will happen now that its happened to one of the big teams in the league.

nah.. it's still here..

Shut up Monty!

The points that Fergie made are quite sensible and if you dont understand it then i must say that ur footballing knowledge is very limited similar to the person whose pic you kep on ur profile. Mr. Kevin Keegan.

Well some points are valid some not, it's up for referees to be consistent in their decision and they are obviously not. I don't think the referee had a bad game. It is very easy to blame them but at the end of the day everyone makes mistake on the pitch : managers players referees...

It's irrelevant whether his points are valid... Any other manager would be fined for coming out with such an outburst, or get touchline bans, yet Ferguson will probably end up getting the referee banned or demoted instead.

A ****ing farce. It's not his job to oversee referee's and determine whether or not they're doing their jobs properly. Nor whether Hackett's operating properly - any complaint can be made in private and he's out of order with these comments.

Oh and if we had referee's like the ones in Europe our game would be dead. I thought he of all people would've known this.

With the Ronaldo body-check, I think the ref may have been put off giving the penalty with the way Ronaldo went down.

To me, it was a foul and the player was 'played' not the ball. But Ronaldo seemed to flick up both legs at that point of contact...which perhaps dramatised the scenario.

I may be wrong, but in that instance he may have done himself out of a penalty being awarded.

It's you that doesn't understand.

Ferguson is going to get fined again or a touchline ban. The FA are reviewing his rant. He is basically saying the Ref was match rigging and on Portsmouth's side and you can't say that it is unprofessional. Not the first time for Ferguson to say something so stupid.

I bet they bottle it.

i didn't see this game yet so i won't go into it to much,but what a result.I know what Harry must have said and that was what he said in the week and that was "if you fellahs want to go to europe this is our only way".
i love pompey but they went off the boil in the worst way.I must stop before i go off on one,but this makes the Chelsea result a little less bitter.

Many have said on here about Arsene Wenger being a bad loser but Alex Ferguson matches him here.

How on earth he (and Ronaldo) can moan about players not being protected is pure hypocrisy. Ronaldo got a couple of body checks. Big. Fcukin. Deal. Hardly career threatening is it? The worst tackle in the match by a mile was Rooney’s on Kranjcar. He dived in studs up at pace – had the Croatian not moved swiftly it was a potential leg breaker for sure. Then Fergie has the nerve to mention Taylor’s tackle on Eduardo in reference to the treatment Ronaldo is getting! Someone should remind him of when Roy Keane intentionally set out to injure Alf Inge Haaland. That’s the kind of treatment that’s need policing, not these pussyboy body checks!

I’ll admit that Ronaldo should have had a penalty but what goes around comes around. He spends so much time on his arse that the referees aren’t sure whether it’s a foul or not. Because he’s dishonest he’s getting punished for it. Serves him right the cheat.

Fergie is trying to deflect attention from this embarrassing defeat onto the referees. If he wants to blame someone then he should look at his multi million pound strikeforce who contrived to miss a series of excellent chances. But that’s football. Portsmouth rode their luck but they defended brilliantly and deserved their win. About the goal they scored – that was Rooney’s fault. Anderson was already tracking Kranjcar’s run and he pointed to Rooney to watch Baros but instead the scouse pikey chose to track Kranjcar too, which left Baros free. The rest is history.

Although there are smaller clubs left in the Cup than Portsmouth, I wouldn’t begrudge Harry Redknapp lifting up the Cup in May. He deserves it for being the best English manager for a generation.

Another Rant!

Actually.... I think Johaldo8 is one of the best and most interesting posters on here when it comes to football and the knowledge of it. To say it's just a rant is rather over the top.

Now thats a rant! ^

Stop your blind United bias, please.

forgot to post about this match .....firstly ........

ok .....what a great result for Portsmouth ....51 yrs since a win i hear ....they had a bit of luck along the way but everyone does on occasion . The bodycheck on Ronaldo was a penalty i thought ....i admit i would probably have been screaming if that had been an Arsenal player . The chance of a treble gone and the late winner for Portsmouth was probably enough for Sir Alex to lose his cool and go on to rant about the referee ....i guess it is hard to take when you feel a decision has been wrong and it ultimately costs the team ...

The tackle by Rooney...well lunge really was shocking and if he had of connected it would have been a red card surely .

In the end Portsmouth defended superbly and deserved to win ....nice one Harry ...

indeed.

completely agree

i am consistent in my quest for managers to conduct themselves with dignity. axe man may think i just pick on wenger but it may just seem that way because its usually the ugly french child that is doing it

and i would not begrudge Portsmouth winning the Cup ....i also like Harry Redknapp and he has transformed Portsmouth since arriving and what a way to end a great season for them if they did it .

Ok.
I just got to watch the whole game,i was nervous and i already knew the result.
as many here know i'm a big Ronaldo critic,but he should have had a penalty without question.
Distin,who i think is one of the best in the prem,made for the man and not the ball.I think it all depends on the angle of the defenders run the determines what is an infraction and what doesn't and his run was angled towards the man and not the ball.
you know what though,big deal,welcome to Arsenals world.United did the same to Arsenal a few years back,and even though many of the current team a weren't responsible for that garbage back then,they are paying for the sins of the past.What goes around comes around.

The luck wasn't with united in this game nad that's just the way it goes.The ref made some big mistakes early on,but my thinking is that he picked up massive tension from both sides before the kick off and didn't want to make any big decisions until the game got it's flow. I have seen ref's do this so many times this year in the bigger games,they are just reluctant to giving penalties or sending players off so early in the game.I think Ronaldo's rep didn't help either as he is known to go down easily.
That being said,pompey's defense was incredible at times and should be proud of their job against a stellar attack force.David James was huge ,he wasn't perfect ,but showed why he's England's #1.
Great result and a testament to why the FA cup is one of the best in the world.

I was a big fan of Utaka's when he was in the French league,but if you can't perform in a game of that magnitude your not a top notch player.With all of his immature rantings,Diarra is for real there is no question in my mind of that.He controlled the mid field like a veteran and never stopped the whole game.
I thought Krancjar could have done a bit more of his dribbling runs to balance out the pressure a bit.

what a result.I never saw this one coming at all,in fact i thought Man U would roll them 4-0 or something.

By the way Rooney is very very lucky he didn't make contact.That challenge was out of sheer frustration and would have had to get the worst punishment possible.

Why were you nervous?