Manchester United will make a formal complaint to the referees’ body, Professional Game Match Officials Limited, over what they described as inconsistent decisions in their 2-2 Premier League draw against Bournemouth on Friday night.
The club expressed concern after two penalties were awarded in the game, while another appeal involving Amad Diallo was turned down.
Director of Football Jason Wilcox is expected to speak with referees’ chief Howard Webb to seek clarification on the decisions.
The game at the Vitality Stadium ended 2-2, with Bournemouth coming from behind twice.
After a goalless first half, Manchester United took the lead through a Bruno Fernandes penalty after Alex Jimenez fouled Matheus Cunha.
United’s penalty appeal involving Diallo followed shortly after, but no decision was given when Adrien Truffert made contact inside the box.
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Bournemouth equalised through Ryan Christie moments later.
Manchester United regained the lead after James Hill scored an own goal from a Fernandes corner.
With 10 minutes remaining, Harry Maguire was sent off for pulling back Evanilson inside the box. Junior Kroupi converted the resulting penalty to level the score.
Interim manager Michael Carrick questioned the consistency of the decisions.
“My first [thought] is he definitely got one of them wrong, because he’s given one penalty for the same thing that he’s not given one as a two-armed grab.
“So the Matheus Cunha one, he gives, the second one on Amad he doesn’t, which is, I think, almost identical, really, two hands on someone in the box, and they go over and they’re in control of the ball.
“Massive moment and I don’t understand how you can give one and not the other – it’s crazy. It’s as obvious as you can get.
“It’s clear, if that’s what he believes is a penalty to start with then the second one has to be. I don’t understand how you can’t give that. And then the goal and after that it was chaos. It’s astonishing.”
Captain Bruno Fernandes also raised concerns over the decisions.
“I think we could have gone 2-0 up, and then we ended up conceding a goal, not getting a penalty and then we get a penalty against, where more or less it’s the same situation as Amad.
“One is awarded as a penalty, the other one is not. I know it’s difficult for the referee to give two penalties in the same game for the same team, but what I don’t understand is why VAR doesn’t get involved in that situation.”
The Premier League Match Centre stated that the decision not to award a penalty for the challenge on Diallo was checked by VAR.
“The referee’s call of no penalty for a challenge by Truffert was checked and confirmed by VAR, with it deemed the contact was not sufficient for a foul”.
On Maguire’s red card and the penalty awarded to Bournemouth, it added:
“The referee’s call of penalty and red card for Maguire for the denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed to be a holding offence with no attempt to challenge for the ball.”
Former Manchester United striker Andy Cole questioned the decisions.
“When you’re talking about going down easily, he’s [Evanilson] gone down easily there.
“As a manager, of course you’re going to be disappointed, Bruno’s [Fernandes] disappointed as well. When you break it down, what is the difference? I get the sending off but when we’re talking about the penalty itself, why is one given and one not?”
Jamie Redknapp offered a different view.
“I think the difference is he’s going to goal and he’s denying a goalscoring opportunity and Harry [Maguire] with the momentum is putting his arm out. It’s extremely harsh but I can see why he’s given that one.”
On the Diallo incident, he added:
“I think it’d have been really harsh. I think you can see Truffert is being aggressive with him, he does manhandle him a bit. I just don’t think it’s enough to be a penalty.”
The video assistant referee did not intervene in any of the incidents.
Football rules allow VAR to act only in cases of clear and obvious errors, which means similar incidents can produce different outcomes based on the referee’s on-field decision.
The development has continued to raise questions about consistency in officiating in the Premier League.
(BBC)
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