Get the day's biggest United stories delivered straight to your inbox Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

If the FA's disciplinary procedures included hefty fines for dismissals, Ander Herrera would be within his rights to demand a whip round from the Manchester United dressing room.

Sent off for two bookable offences against Chelsea, the second in particular was debatable in isolation, he paid the price for his teammates' persistent fouling of Eden Hazard.

Phil Jones was lucky to escape a booking minutes earlier, and when Chris Smalling was warned by referee Michael Oliver that he would not be so lenient with the next offender, he did not appear to pass the sentiment on to his team-mates.

Meanwhile, it was Jose Mourinho who devised United's tactics.

Unfortunately, suspensions are an individual statistic, and it is Herrera who will miss the next two domestic matches.

But the Basque is far from blameless.

Already booked for what Oliver deemed a bodycheck on Hazard earlier in the contest, he gave the referee a decision to make with a needless challenge, far from the United goal with covering teammates in the area.

He should not have needed Smalling to tell him he was taking a risk in a big game that required United to keep 11 men on the field if they were to have any chance of making the FA Cup semi-finals.

But his dismissal was not massively surprising.

He was quick to get into the referee's face after his first booking, and his reaction was such that technically Oliver could have brandished a second yellow at that point.

His decision making was poor from the first whistle, and it isn't the first time that's happened.

Herrera has been touted as future captain material. He 'gets United', plays with remarkable passion and is a vocal leader.

You don't have to be a saint to be a captain. Roy Keane and Nemanja Vidic were no stranger to cards of either colour.

But his silly dismissal harmed the team and Mr Nice Guy off the field is beginning to getting a reputation on it.

He has two red cards and 11 yellows so far this season, is the only United player to get sent off domestically under Mourinho and earned a Europa League suspension on the totting up process.

There is no doubt he was hard done by against Burnley, sent off for a slip, while Eric Bailly saw red in the Europa League, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been retrospectively banned and Marcos Rojo could have had several reds.

But he has been given six cards in his last seven outings, and he needs to address that side of his game.

United do not have a direct replacement for Herrera, and the lacklustre draw with Bournemouth demonstrated the midfield's reliance on his creativity and guile.

The Spaniard is a key man in this side, and poor decision making is robbing United of his services. Mourinho needs him to learn the lesson.