Chelsea’s winless streak at Old Trafford continued, with it now 11 years since they have won away to Manchester United.
Manchester United rarely looked like losing to Chelsea either on November 3, yet were unable to take all three points, with the game ending in a 1-1 draw.
United’s performance had a few flashes of quality, and lots of haphazard play and poor decision-making too.
One of the big talking points was the referee. While Robert Jones did award United a clear cut penalty, there were decisions he missed and frequently got wrong.
Marcus Rashford should have had a spot-kick in the first half when he was fouled, and five Manchester United players were issued with yellow cards.
Pundits criticise Robert Jones
They say the mark of a good referee is when you do not notice them, and this was not the case with Robert Jones’ officiating display at Old Trafford.
Jones’ performance was heavily criticised on MUTV, with three pundits in separate segments providing negative words on his contribution to the match.
David May commented: “I thought the referee had an absolute shocker, absolute shocker.
“How on earth they [Chelsea]] ended up with all of players on the pitch? I’m not sure.”
Ben Thornley noted that he felt the refereeing distracted from the game. He said: “I was slightly disappointed with the performance of Rob Jones.
“There were things that he was letting go that he shouldn’t have done, and other things that he was pulling up, but he could have let go. It was disappointing to see a referee’s performance that was very inconsistent.”
Former United star John O’Shea suggested a demotion could be coming Jones’ way, as a result of the performance.
He said: “It wasn’t the ref’s best ever game, shall we say. But look, you’re going to get that a little bit of time..
“He’ll have to obviously do a review, and maybe you might get put down to the Championship. You never know.”
Referee issues blight season, highlight problems
Last week it was a stoppage time penalty which cost Manchester United, a truly awful decision in the match away at West Ham.
At the start of last month a red card for Bruno Fernandes against Tottenham ruined that particular match, which was later rescinded due to being the wrong call.
The poor officiating has been a constant through the season, yet there has also been added focus on it, because United have played poorly.
If United had been scoring enough goals, and dominating teams in the way we demand and expect, then the odd bad decision barely gets noticed,
When the team plays poorly and struggles to get results, the big and little decisions tend to matter a little more, and United are certainly feeling that in 2024/25.
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