Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has contradicted himself with his latest assessment of another penalty given in a game not involving Manchester United.
Manchester City were awarded a penalty during their 2-1 victory over Sean Dyche’s Everton at Goodison Park and it has caused frustration with some Manchester United fans.
After a shot from Nathan Ake hit the arm of Amadou Onana in the penalty area, after a delay from referee John Brooks, the referee originally awarded a corner before changing his mind and awarding the spot-kick.
Julian Alvarez scored for the Premier League holders but Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford did his best to keep the effort out.
Refereeing contradiction
There is one incident from earlier this season that frustrated the United fanbase more than most and that was the handball that was not given as a penalty against Tottenham Hotspur.
With Alejandro Garnacho bearing down on goal, the Argentine’s shot deflected off his teammate for his national team, Spurs defender Cristian Romero.
Bizarrely, the penalty wasn’t given despite the defender’s arm being in an unnatural position and away from his body, VAR and the referee failed to award the penalty.
This decision infuriated the United fans and Dermot Gallagher’s attempts of an explanation for the decision have not gone down well.
“I think it’s a modern-day penalty, you see this and the directive is if the ball is striking his hand and it’s away from his body then it’s a penalty,” Gallagher said on Sky Sports’ Ref Watch. “The minute I saw the replay, I knew it was going to be given. Once it was given, VAR were never going to overturn it.”
United’s frustration
Quite rightly too, the Red Devils fans were furious with that decision as the one that United were refuted was arguably more of a penalty than the one given against Onana, a potential target for Erik ten Hag next summer.
Tight, or in some cases obvious, decisions going against United have been nothing new this campaign with there being a fair few offside calls that certainly looked tight go against the Red Devils, with the offside goal scored by Garnacho against Arsenal being a good example of this.
The more decisions that go against them this season, the more their frustrations will grow and grow. Something has to give for the Red Devils.
Gallagher’s constant contradictions see him named as our ‘villain of the year’ in our half season awards.
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