Webb says VAR failed to spot Fernandez offside in Manchester derby
Howard Webb said the video assistant referee (VAR) failed to assess an offside by Enzo Fernandez that led to the winning goal in Sunday’s Manchester derby at Old Trafford, speaking on the first edition of 'Match Officials Mic'd Up' of the season.
Webb said he was "really disappointed" with the error made by the VAR Matt Donohue and his assistant Blake Antrobus and added the officials were taking it personally, as he is Pro Ref's chief refereeing officer. Manchester City striker Erling Haaland appeared to score in the 60th minute before the goal was disallowed on the field for offside, but a VAR review then ruled Haaland was onside and the goal was awarded; Manchester City won 1-0 at Old Trafford after a VAR mistake handed them the only goal of the game.
The audio from the Mic'd Up session showed why the offside by Fernandez went unnoticed: Fernandez dived at the ball in a central position and interfered with opponents while Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez was nearby and goalkeeper Sanne Lammens was positioned to play for Fernandez. Webb said the VAR team became fixated on Haaland, describing that they got "tunnel vision" over the City striker.
He explained the technical sequence leading to the error: "The semi-automated offside technology told the VAR that Haaland was three centimetres onside from Josko Gvardiol's cross. He establishes he's onside, he thinks that's a good goal. He doesn't truly evaluate the full impact of Fernandez's position. He has a look to see if he touches the ball, because then that relates to potentially knocking it to Haaland, who goes on to score. In that moment, he gets tunnel vision. It's down to the rest of his team to pull him out of that tunnel, and unfortunately, that didn't happen on this occasion."
Webb said the failure to identify the subjective offside — where Fernandez did not touch the ball but "still clearly impacts" play — was "really disappointing" and that "this goal should've been disallowed." He added the incident would be reviewed and the lessons taken forward to try to prevent a similar error.
There was also debate about the red card shown to Phil Foden in the 23th minute for kicking out at Bruno Fernandes because Fernandes received no sanction for a similar action; Webb supported Foden's dismissal. "I agree with the red card for Phil Foden," he said. "He kicks out with force into the upper body of Bruno Fernandes. Now, when you look at the footage, there is that petulant kick by Bruno Fernandes into the backside of Foden. It is more petulant than violent. To be violent conduct, it has to have excessive force or brutality. When you look at that, particularly in full speed, it doesn't have those elements. So therefore, this would be a yellow card offence."
Webb noted that had Foden been sent off following a VAR review rather than on the field — "as Aston Villa's Joao Gomes was at Brighton for a similar offence last month" — Fernandes' yellow-card offence would also have been identified at the pitchside monitor, and Webb said he had already been in contact with Manchester United to share the VAR audio and video. "I was really disappointed with this outcome. We all are," he added.
He confirmed the VAR officials involved will not be officiating again until after the international break and reiterated: "This goal should've been disallowed. And highly unfortunately, it wasn't, and we'll review it, reflect upon it, and try to take the learning forward to prevent this unusual type of error from happening again."
