Howard Webb, the Chief Refereeing Officer at Pro Ref, the organisation that manages match officials for Premier League matches, has spoken for the first time about the goal in the Manchester derby on Sunday.
The scorer, Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, was initially flagged as offside, but after a VAR review found him to be onside, the goal was given despite Haaland’s team-mate Enzo Fernandez being in an offside position and interfering with play. Pro Ref has since acknowledged that it was an error to award the goal.
Speaking on this season’s first episode of Match Officials Mic’d Up, where the conversations between the match officials about the goal can be heard, Webb said: “We felt it was important that we acknowledged an error in this situation. We know that Erling Haaland, who was penalised on-field for offside, wasn't in an offside position. But we also know that Enzo Fernandez, who was in an offside position, almost certainly interfered with the Manchester United defence and probably the goalkeeper as well.
“I was really disappointed with this outcome. We all are. None more so than the officials themselves. They take a lot of personal pride in what they do, and they're obviously hurting now having fallen short in this situation.
“They'll not be officiating again until after the international break. We've reached out to Manchester United and acknowledged the error, as we do when these things happen. They don't happen that often, but we want to ensure that we are transparent and open, and we've played the audio and the footage to the football club to let them know what happened, and we're going to review this situation to understand what elements of process fell down in this situation, which meant we didn't get to the right outcome.”
As to why Fernandez should have been considered offside despite not making contact with the ball, Webb explained: “Fernandez doesn't actually touch the ball, so he's not committed what we would call the factual offside offence of interfering with play. But you can still be penalised even if you don't touch the ball, and in this situation, as the ball comes across, we see Fernandez sort of dive towards the ball. He gets close to it.
“That impacts [Man Utd defender] Lisandro Martinez, who's nearby. He can't come and clear the ball. It probably impacts Man Utd goalkeeper [Senne] Lammens as well, who can’t dive in the way that he would, or he sets himself for potential contact from Fernandez. And that puts him out of position for what then happens later when Fernandez misses the ball and Haaland shoots.”
As to why the VAR did not consider Fernandez to be interfering, Webb said: “When the VAR starts their check, they see, through the use of the semi-automated offside technology, that Haaland, when he's played, he's onside by three centimetres, played on by Man Utd defender [Patrick] Dorgu on the far side.
“And the VAR gets super-focused on Haaland. He establishes he's onside. He thinks that's a good goal. Haaland's not offside, as was thought initially.
“But of course, when he then runs it back through the full APP [attacking phase of play], he doesn't truly evaluate the full impact of Fernandez's position. He has a look to see if he touches the ball, because then that relates to potentially knocking it to Haaland, who goes on to score. He [Fernandez] doesn't touch the ball, but he [the VAR] doesn't truly evaluate other elements of offside. In that moment, he gets tunnel vision.
“He gets focused on Haaland, and it's down to the rest of his team to pull him out of that tunnel, and unfortunately, that didn't happen on this occasion.”
In episode one of this season's "Match Officials Mic'd Up", Webb and Owen also analyse Phil Foden's red card in the Manchester derby, why Man Utd's Harry Maguire was not deemed to have handled the ball prior to a goal at home to Ipswich Town, Neco Williams' disallowed goal in the match between Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur and the late Liverpool penalty at Newcastle United.
VAR: Video Assistant Referee; AVAR: Assistant Video Assistant Referee; RO: replay operator; APP: attacking phase of play.
UK users can watch the whole "Match Officials Mic'd Up" video on Sky Sports and TNT Sports. International users can access the full video with their local rights-holder.
Source: www.premierleague.com — Read the original article
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