Referees’ chief Howard Webb has admitted that the video assistant referee (VAR) did not even consider whether Enzo Fernandez was offside for Erling Haaland’s controversial winner in Sunday’s Manchester derby.
Speaking on the first edition of ‘Match Officials Mic’d Up’ of the season, Webb said he was “really disappointed” with the error made by the VAR Matt Donohue and his assistant Blake Antrobus.
Manchester City striker Haaland thought he had scored the only goal of the game at Old Trafford in the 60th minute, but it was disallowed on the field for offside.
A VAR review found Haaland was just onside, and the goal was awarded.
But it immediately became apparent that the video officials had made an error in failing to identify an offside offence by Fernandez, diving at the ball in a central position and interfering with opponents.
“I was really disappointed with this outcome. We all are,” said Webb, Premier League refereeing body Pro Ref’s chief refereeing officer.
“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.”
One of the questions which many supporters have asked is how the VAR team could possibly reach the conclusion that Fernandez did not commit an offside offence.
Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez initially appeared to be marking Haaland, but then moved over to try and intercept the ball from Fernandez. This left Haaland free at the back post to finish.
Former England striker and BBC Sport pundit Wayne Rooney said on Match of the Day that “to not see that and recognise that Enzo Fernandez was in an offside position…anyone who has played the game at any level understands that and to get it so wrong is baffling.”
The Mic’d Up audio revealed that at no stage did Donohue or Antrobus consider whether Fernandez was offside because, as Webb describes, they got “tunnel vision” over Haaland.
The semi-automated offside technology told the VAR that Haaland was three centimetres onside from Josko Gvardiol’s cross.
But the video officials then only checked for a touch by Fernandez which would have created a new offside phase against the Norway international.
This is the transcript, which was dominated by the VAR with the AVAR only making one minor contribution.
At the start of the season, video officials were encouraged to be more efficient with their checks and not take an excessive amount of time.
Comments made by the technical replay operator have been omitted.
VAR: Checking the on-field decision of offside against Haaland.
The VAR and the semi-automated offside operator then discuss the decision against Haaland and he is shown to be onside.
VAR: Okay, so he’s onside. So we now need to check the full APP (attacking phase).
VAR speaking to referee Michael Oliver: Michael, Haaland’s in an onside position, but I need to check the full APP now. Stand by.
VAR: Haaland’s clearly onside. Roll it all the way through. Roll it all the way through.
VAR: Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go.
VAR: Go back just to check Ndiaye wasn’t on offside. Sorry, my apologies. When it’s flicked. Quick, quick, quick, quick. Yes, fine. Go, go, go, go, go.
VAR: Let’s go. It should be a goal. All the way into the back of the net now.
VAR: Quick, quick, quick, quick! Go, go, go, go, go!
This is the point at which Gvardiol crosses the ball into the box.
VAR: Deflection. Onside. No touch there [by Fernandez]. Confirm, no touch. There wasn’t.
VAR: Just something [camera angle] tighter. Clear gap.
VAR: There’s not a touch, is there [by Fernandez]? There’s no touch.
VAR: Another angle. Roll it through, roll it through, roll it through.
AVAR: No. Yeah.
VAR: Goal
VAR to referee: Michael, confirming that you need to change your decision to goal. Haaland is in onside position. Final decision is goal. Check complete.
Webb said that the VAR failed to assess how Fernandez found himself in that position, so did not consider the offside offence.
“The VAR gets super-focused on Haaland,” said Webb, who had already been in contact with Manchester United to share the VAR audio and video.
“He establishes he’s onside, he thinks that’s a good goal.
“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.”
Webb highlighted the lack of assistance from Antrobus as the assistant VAR, who did not offer a meaningful contribution during the review.
“In that moment, he [Donohue] gets tunnel vision,” Webb said. “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.
“What looks like a really clear subjective offside, because Fernandez doesn’t touch the ball but still clearly impacts [the play but] doesn’t get identified, and it’s really disappointing.
“This goal should’ve been disallowed. And highly unfortunately, it wasn’t, and we’ll review it, reflect upon it, and try to take the learning forward to prevent this unusual type of error from happening again.”
There was also much debate over the red card shown to Phil Foden in the 23th minute for kicking out at Bruno Fernandes, largely because there was no sanction against the Portuguese midfielder for a similar act.
Webb backed the decision to dismiss Foden, but said the action by Fernandes did not meet the threshold for violent conduct.
“I agree with the red card for Phil Foden,” said Webb. “He kicks out with force into the upper body of Bruno Fernandes.
“Now, when you look at the footage, there is that petulant kick by Bruno Fernandes into the backside of Foden. It is more petulant than violent.
“To be violent conduct, it has to have excessive force or brutality. When you look at that, particularly in full speed, it doesn’t have those elements. So therefore, this would be a yellow card offence.”
Webb added that if Foden had not been sent off on the field, but he had been via a VAR review – as Aston Villa‘s Joao Gomes was at Brighton for a similar offence last month – Fernandes’ yellow-card offence would also have been identified at the pitchside monitor.
