Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has made his feelings clear over whether or not Manchester United were denied a penalty against Tottenham at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Ange Postecoglou’s men clinched all three points against Manchester United with an emphatic 3-0 win, with Tottenham outclassing Erik ten Hag’s side on the day.
United were stunned inside the opening five minutes after Brennan Johnson opened the scoring for Spurs in the Premier League contest.
The Red Devils’ woes continued before half-time after Bruno Fernandes was controversially sent off by Chris Kavanagh for a challenge on James Maddison.
Dejan Kulusevski doubled Tottenham’s lead only two minutes into the second half before Dominic Solanke netted Spurs’ third in the 77th minute at Old Trafford.
Erik ten Hag is under major pressure at Old Trafford after United’s poor start to the Premier League season, with the Red Devils only managing two league wins so far.
Gallagher on Man Utd penalty call vs Spurs
Manchester United made a strong shout for a penalty in the second half after the ball appeared to strike the arm of Tottenham defender Cristian Romero.
Cristian Romero protested his innocence and the Spurs centre-back claimed the ball had struck his chest before connecting with his arm.
VAR took a closer look at the incident and did not intervene, with United denied a penalty against Tottenham at Old Trafford.
Speaking on Sky Sports’ Ref Watch, Dermot Gallagher insisted that referee Chris Kavanagh made the right call not to award a penalty in the first place.
The former Premier League referee claimed that the incident happened “quickly” and the replays showed the ball connected with Romero’s chest first.
“It hits his chest first,” he said.
“It comes off his chest onto his arm. It’s not a handball and it happens quickly.”
Ten Hag on Man Utd result vs Tottenham
Speaking after the match, Erik ten Hag admitted that Tottenham were the more “dominant” side and United struggled with unlocking the “right press” against them.
“You saw that we were stressful on the ball from that moment on [Spurs’ opener],” he said, as per Manchester United’s official website.
“We had too many mistakes and never got a foothold in the game. The press was no good in the first half.
“We conceded some counterattacks after we countered and we made some very bad decisions when we had a lot of space.
“It was a bad start to the game. Tottenham were dominant. We couldn’t get the right press.
“We also made mistakes in possession. We couldn’t find the spare man; we couldn’t pass over the press.”
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