ITV pundit Roy Keane admitted that one Manchester United player made a “clever” decision in the third-round FA Cup win over Wigan on Monday evening.
United punched their ticket to the fourth round of the FA Cup with a comfortable 2-0 victory at the DW Stadium, with the Red Devils outclassing Wigan on the night.
Diogo Dalot was praised by one of his former United teammates for his performance after the 24-year-old Portugal international opened the scoring in the first half.
Alejandro Garnacho also earned rave reviews for his display against Wigan, while Kobbie Mainoo was hailed by United fans for a superb performance in midfield.
Bruno Fernandes sealed United’s win against Wigan after his second-half spot-kick, but the controversial penalty call was slammed by Wigan players and supporters.
Marcus Rashford had played the ball to Fernandes and the Portugal midfielder was caught by Liam Shaw’s stray foot as he attempted to cut the ball back.
With VAR not in place for the match, referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot and awarded a penalty, despite Fernandes being accused of going down too easily.
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United legend Keane reacts to penalty
Keane was in the ITV studio alongside Arsenal legend Ian Wright and Portugal manager Roberto Martinez for the post-match analysis of Wigan vs United.
The United legend disagreed with Wright and Martinez over one player’s performance against Wigan, saying that he would be “fuming” with him.
When it came to the penalty, however, Keane praised United captain Fernandes for his decision-making and for going down under Shaw’s sliding tackle.
“It’s clever play… it’s clever play for me. I think it’s a penalty,” he said.
“There’s no doubt [that] he’d put it in the back of the net and maybe because it’s Bruno, people will criticise it, but he gets caught.
“It’s a smart play, you see the defender, stay on your feet… he [Shaw] dives in, he catches him [Fernandes].”
Wright interjected and responded to Keane: “I don’t think it’s just Bruno, though. All players now, any contact they feel in the box they’re going down.”
Keane added: “Particularly because of the way he goes down… [there’s a] slight delay, but he gets caught.”
Danny Murphy not convinced by penalty call
Despite the likes of Keane and Wright suggesting that it was a penalty, Match of the Day pundit Danny Murphy slammed Taylor’s “awful” decision during the match.
Speaking on talkSPORT, he said: “It’s horrendous. It is not just Fernandes, we have seen a few of them recently.
“There is a tiny little touch and unfortunately, what we are doing by giving those penalties, is we are encouraging players to dive with any contact.
“Because there was not enough contact to send him over and then he puts his foot on the floor and thinks, ‘Oh, I better go over.’
“It is an exaggerated fall; it is an awful decision and it’s encouraging diving. It is encouraging players to go down.”
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