London - Referees hit back at Sir Alex Ferguson on Tuesday, accusing him of not knowing the rules after his latest outburst.

The Manchester United manager, who is already facing action over his complaints about the fitness of referee Alan Wiley, was unhappy about two incidents in his side's 2-0 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday.

Ferguson insisted referee Andre Marriner should have awarded a penalty following a challenge by Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher on United's Michael Carrick, and that Carragher should have been sent off rather than merely booked for pulling down United forward Michael Owen with 10 minutes remaining.

"Ferguson clearly doesn't understand the law about the denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity," a senior refereeing source, who still officiates in the Premier League, told the Guardian.

"The fouled player has to have full control of the ball and has to be moving towards the goal but Michael Owen did not fulfil either condition.

"Andre Marriner was absolutely right to award a yellow card and a direct free-kick.

"It would have been totally wrong for him to have sent Jamie Carragher off.

"And Sir Alex should never have said that Andre Marriner was not an experienced referee when he is on the FIFA list and got all the important decisions right on Sunday."

The former referee Jeff Winter, now a pundit on radio in Middlesbrough, agreed.

"It's so frustrating when a manager as experienced and respected as Sir Alex Ferguson makes a statement about the laws of the game which is completely inaccurate," he said.

"I don't know if Sir Alex Ferguson has got a problem with referees but he has got a problem when Manchester United don't win and blaming the referee is the easy option.

"His statement about Carragher shows that either he doesn't know the laws of the game or he's resorting to mind games again."

Winter called for the Football Association to take strong action against Ferguson.

"If I were the FA I would personally impose a FIFA-style stadium ban on Sir Alex," he said.

"I think it's got to be harsh punishment to teach him and everyone else a lesson.

"They've got to show Sir Alex and everyone else that behaviour like this will not be tolerated. A fine or, in this case, even a touchline ban won't be enough." (dpa)