Manchester United and Southampton were awarded controversial penalties by the VAR while Tottenham was denied theirs.
The VAR implementation in the Premier League this season hasn’t exactly gone smoothly. Almost every week, we either witness disallowed goals for a striker’s shoulder being in an “offside” position or a goal ruled out for a ridiculous handball long before the ball gets to the net.
Football fans have had nightmares about the dreaded dotted lines that the VAR use to determine if a player was offside or not.
However, on Thursday, VAR reached a new low in the Premier League as they made three incorrect penalty decisions.
Harry Kane denied a penalty
Spurs weren’t awarded a penalty despite Josh King shoving Harry Kane in the back in the penalty area. After the match, Mourinho added “In the world, everybody knows that is a penalty. And I say, everybody, I mean everybody”.
But, the VAR referee, Michael Oliver decided not to grant Kane the deserved penalty.
Incidentally, Oliver will be the ref for the North London derby on Sunday.
Bruno Fernandes awarded a penalty.
The Portuguese Fernandes was awarded the penalty after he trod on Ezri Konsa’s leg. Despite Solskjaer’s claims, it was actually a penalty, the Premier League had something different in mind. They said, “It was the wrong decision. It should have been overturned by VAR but wasn’t and should actually have been a foul on Konsa”.
Southampton awarded penalty
The Premier League also admitted Southampton shouldn’t have been awarded a spot-kick when James Ward-Prowse was “fouled” by Andre Gomes.
Fortunately, Ward-Prowse subsequently missed the penalty.
“The performance of the referee was like my team, not so good”. Said Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti after the game.
So, how do you make three wrong decisions with the use of VAR? That’s the technological point-where every single decision is correct.