Another day, another goal chalked off for Manchester United. Red Devils fans must be sick of the sight of those 3 letters flashing up on screens all over England’s stadiums.
Seven minutes into the game, United fans were celebrating a rare positive start to a Premier League away day. The ball was whipped in from a free kick and the young Argentine, Alejandro Garnacho, expertly peeled off his marker to lay the ball across for United’s top scorer in the league, Scott McTominay, to slot the ball home.
A great way to begin a Saturday lunchtime kick-off. Except it wasn’t. The away fans burst into much-needed and therapeutic celebration but it was cut short when VAR announced they were beginning the dreaded check. The technology was asked to verify if defender Harry Maguire had interfered with the play.
And when referee for the day, John Brooks, trotted over to analyse the action on the off-field camera, the familiar sinking feeling of another disallowed goal came washing over the fanbase.
All teams feel aggrieved by decisions. All sides feel they are on the wrong side of the call when they are struggling. However, this United outfit has had more than their fair share already this season, and the Halloween decorations are just going back into the attic.
According to ESPN, before today’s fixture, Manchester United already had a net loss of three decisions checked by VAR. Make that four. No team in the league has more.
The American sports network claims that United, before the game against Fulham, had five decisions go against them. Alejandro Garnacho, Rasmus Hojlund and Jonny Evans had already seen goals scrubbed off this term. Scott Mctominay became the fourth Red Devil to be denied.
ESPN also explained that the Erling Haaland penalty was another decision that VAR decided to intervene in. In fact, the only decision that VAR got involved in that worked in the Mancunian club’s favour was the decision to overturn a penalty for Arsenal against Aaron Wan-Bissaka. Now, opposition fans will call it sour grapes and assert that the Old Trafford outfit have received countless decisions in their favour over the years.
Nonetheless, a different article by ESPN from the end of May in 2023 outlined just how many disallowed goals each team had last season. It is an interesting comparison.
In the entirety of the 2022/23 season, only three teams had more goals scored disallowed than the four United currently have. Liverpool had six, while Bournemouth and Aston Villa had five. In contrast Man United only had two chalked off in the league. However, it must be remembered that these statistics are for the whole season. The four disallowed goals that the side from The Theatre of Dreams already have against them, will most likely easily surpass Liverpool’s total of six last term.
Finally, what really upsets the majority of fans, and this is not exclusive to United’s followers, is the inconsistency of VAR decisions. Ironically earlier in the season against the same opposition (Fulham), Manchester City had a goal allowed for a, at best, similar call to Harry Maguire’s supposed interference.
Same rule in play, not called for offside https://t.co/uxF9uMIFJI pic.twitter.com/p59ZOg44Xn
— Casey Evans (@Casey_Evans_) November 4, 2023
Regardless of whether you are sympathetic to the Red Devil’s plight, all football fans must see the very real problems the English Premier League is having with the use of VAR. What is clear is the football authorities in this country need to find a solution before it turns people off for good from the game we all love.