Barely a day hasn’t passed regarding the controversial VAR decision against Wolves in their game against Manchester United, and the match officials for the game have been dropped for the upcoming weekend. For the unversed, Wolves were denied a late penalty after the VAR decided to stick with the referee’s decision as Manchester United opened their Premier League account with a 1-0 win.
But the Premier League has decided to take action into its own hands. The match officials for the game have been dropped for the next weekend because of their costly mistake in taking a correct penalty call.
Wolves boss reveals he got apology from PGMOL over Andre Onana penalty call
Not just match referee Simon Hooper along with the assistant referees, VAR officials Michael Salisbury and Assistant VAR Richard West have been stood down from officiating duties in the second week of the Premier League.
Correct or Incorrect VAR call?
There remains no shred of doubt that it was a wrong VAR call as the PGMOL elite referees’ manager Jon Moss apologized to Wolves manager Gary O’Neil after the visitors were denied a penalty call late into the stoppage time of the game.
Let us review what exactly happened. After a long ball was delivered into Manchester United’s penalty box, new goalie Andre Onana who joined the Red Devils in the summer made a wrong call. While Dawson headed the ball, Onana was a bit late in his attempt to clear the ball and he straight-on collided with Sasa Kalajdzic.
Simon Cooper deemed it was not a penalty and the VAR stuck with the referee’s decision. After the match, Onana claimed that the referee was correct in not giving a penalty and that he did nothing wrong.
“No, goalkeepers make decisions, sometimes you are right, sometimes you are not. I made a decision and I am responsible for everything. For me it was contact between two big guys and nothing happened. But for us, the most important thing was to win and I am happy for the victory,” said Onana.
“Of course I was confident (the penalty would not be given),” concluded the goalie who joined Old Trafford this summer after his move from Inter Milan.
Gary O’Neil praised Jon Moss for his apology. He said, “Fair play to Jon (Moss) in coming out (to talk to me). He said it was clear and obvious and he can’t believe the on-field referee didn’t give it and he can’t believe VAR didn’t intervene. It’s probably made me feel worse to be honest because once you know you’re right you feel worse about leaving with nothing.”
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