MUTV and BBC pundits agree over Manchester United penalty incident

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Manchester City benefited from a cheap penalty to take the lead against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

If you feel like the referees and VAR have it in for Manchester United this season, you are not alone.

It has been one contentious decision after another, and with the odds stacked against us against City yesterday, a controversial penalty for the visitors was not what we needed.

VAR intervened to award City a first half penalty after Rasmus Hojlund was alleged to have pulled Rodri back inside the penalty box.

Reaction to City penalty

Erling Haaland scored the penalty and gave City the lead. They went onto win 3-0, with the penalty deciding the course of the game.

We can speculate that City would have won anyway, but when decisions like that go against you – it doesn’t help!

The decision was discussed on MUTV during the match coverage and post-game reaction, and nobody was impressed.

Former defender David May blasted: “Yes there’s a little tumble, but if that’s a penalty then you’d be giving four or five penalties every game. It’s poor.

It was a feeling echoed by former United trainee Danny Webber, who questioned why VAR were intervening.

He said: “It doesn’t need to be something VAR intervenes and brings attention to the ref. Players aren’t protesting. The same thing is happening to Marcus Rashford on the edge of the box.

“It’s the nature of the game someone is going to be blocking. There’s no need to go and intervene 30 or 40 seconds later.”

BBC pundit agrees

The stance was backed by BBC Radio 5 Live pundit Chris Waddle, who agreed the decision was an overly harsh one.

The former England international said: “We see this every game. Everybody is holding everybody and they don’t get given.

“Every game you watch, in every division, people hold on to each other. If they do it at every corner and every free-kick, you’ll get at least 10 penalties a game.”

Manchester United fans were left frustrated by the call – comparing it to when Rasmus Hojlund was hauled down inside the box against Arsenal and no spot-kick was given.