Yorke On Rooney's Red Card

Dwight Yorke has labelled Wayne Rooney’s red card against West Ham as “inexcusable”.

The Manchester United captain opened the scoring but was sent off for a cynical kick at Stewart Downing which will now see him suspended for three games against Everton, West Brom and Chelsea.

United’s 10 men managed to hang on and seal a 2-1 win at Old Trafford despite West Ham’s late equaliser from Kevin Nolan being ruled out for offside.

But Yorke, himself a former United striker, was unimpressed with Rooney’s actions particularly because he has offended before.

He said: “This is inexcusable in my opinion.

“I think it’s a lapse of one moment, a split moment.

“We have seen him do this in the past for England against Montenegro. It’s just one of those moments where you really can’t defend him.”

Yorke also insisted that the added responsibility on Rooney’s shoulders after Louis van Gaal named him as United captain means he is under more scrutiny than ever before.

“He’s our talisman, our leader in the team and he should be setting a far greater example than he shows here.

“But I’m sure he’ll look back at that tonight and be bitterly disappointed with his reaction.”