Manchester United Penalty Decisions Explained by Refereeing Chief

According to Howard Webb, the chief refereeing officer of PGMO, the disparity in penalty decisions against Manchester United at Bournemouth can be attributed to the varying speeds of the attacking players. During the match, Manchester United took the lead twice, courtesy of goals from Bruno Fernandes and an own goal by James Hill, but the hosts managed to secure a point with goals from Ryan Christie and a late penalty by Eli Junior Kroupi. Fernandes' goal came from a penalty spot after Alex Jimenez pulled Matheus Cunha, but a similar penalty appeal by Amad Diallo was dismissed by both the on-field referee and the VAR during the second half, just before the hosts equalized. Later, Harry Maguire received a straight red card for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity when he pulled over Evanilson, resulting in a penalty that Kroupi scored from. Webb explained that the key difference between the two incidents lay in the speed of the attackers, stating that Evanilson was moving at a significantly faster pace than Amad Diallo when the fouls occurred. This discrepancy in speed was crucial in determining the severity of the contact and the subsequent penalty decisions. The on-field referees' decisions were respected by the VAR in both cases, although Webb noted that if the referee had not awarded a penalty in the Maguire incident, the VAR would have likely intervened due to the clear and obvious nature of the foul. The penalty decisions sparked controversy, with Fernandes expressing frustration that only one of the penalties was awarded for what he considered to be similar situations, while head coach Michael Carrick described the disparity as 'crazy' and 'baffling.' Webb further clarified that the referee must make a judgment call on the impact of the contact, emphasizing that the application of VAR should not be overly intrusive and should only intervene when an error is clearly and obviously wrong.