Sir Alex Ferguson has launched an angry verbal attack on the FA?s disciplinary unit for their failure to punish Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard this week.

Gerrard will take his place in the Liverpool team that visits Old Trafford on Sunday for what is always one of the most eagerly-awaited, and contentious, fixtures in the Premier League.

But he could quite easily have been serving a suspension after television replays clearly showed him elbowing Portsmouth's Michael Brown in a confrontation during Liverpool?s 4-1 league victory on Monday.

In January, and in almost identical circumstances, the FA handed United defender Rio Ferdinand a retrospective three-match suspension after video evidence showed him elbowing an opponent during a victory over Hull City.

In the Gerrard incident, however, referee Stuart Attwell claimed he had seen the incident and deemed no punishment was necessary against Gerrard, preventing any retrospective action being taken.

That has clearly irritated Ferguson.

"I didn't expect him to be charged," said the Scot. "Simply because it is a dysfunctional unit at the FA.

"I don't think they know what they are doing. There is no consistency for a start, so you don't expect to get any consistency. I'm not bothered. They can do what they want down there, it's crazy times down there.

"It tells you about their attitude and I don't really know how it has come about because I haven't really paid a lot of attention to it.

"But I certainly think if it was a Manchester United player he would have been done, as was the case with Rio Ferdinand.

"There is nothing you can do about it. You just scratch your head, everybody scratches their head at some of these decisions. But it will always be that way. You just scratch your head at some of the decisions they take and wonder how they came to that decision. It just happens."

Ferguson was handed some good news yesterday, however, when Owen Hargreaves reported no ill effects following his reserve team outing for United against Burnley, his first competitive football since September 2008 after surgery to cure tendonitis in both knees.

Hargreaves played 45 minutes in the game and Ferguson said: "Owen made his comeback which is a big boost for the boy. We?re delighted for him, he has been out a year and a half and it has been very difficult for him.

"The experience we have had of Gary Neville coming back after not playing for a long interval will be helpful and Gary has proved and shown that you can come back from this sort of injury and Owen has the advantage of being a younger man.

"Hopefully, he is back for a long, continued period now. I think he?ll need a couple games more in the reserves but by that time he should be back in the first team squad. And he is a good one to get back at this time in the season."