| In the last two games, against Motherwell and Hearts, Craig believes his skipper was fouled almost every time he went forward for a corner or a free-kick.
Wilkie himself complained about it after Saturday’s defeat at Tynecastle and now his manager has revealed his frustration about the situation.
“Lee is a big strong boy, who can look after himself, but, because he’s is so big, we feel he gets penalised a lot when he wins the ball fairly,” said Craig.
“That’s bad enough, but, when referees also seem to take the view that, just because of his size it’s OK for defenders to grab handfuls of his shirt at our set-pieces, it becomes very frustrating.
“Against Motherwell, Craigan was doing it when Lee was in their box and, at Hearts, it happened every time with the boy Zaliukas.”
What’s even more annoying for United is that last summer every club was told there would be a clampdown on defenders’ conduct at set-pieces.
“After the referees said that, we even changed our system to zonal so we would not get penalised, but there has been no clampdown and the likes of Lee are suffering because of it.
“And it’s not as if it’s the hardest thing to spot — if a player is not even looking at the ball when it is coming over, there is a fair chance he is about to foul the man he’s marking.”
For the second week running, Wilkie is battling to recover from a dead leg in time to face Rangers at Tannadice on Sunday. He suffered one against Motherwell and then, similarly, hurt his other leg in training at the start of the week, though his boss expects him to recover.
“Maybe it’s because he has suffered much worse in the past and does not want to miss any games, but he is the type who manages to play with injuries that would keep others out,” added Craig. |
