The chief refereeing officer, Howard Webb, has shed light on the penalty decisions that went against Manchester United during their match against Bournemouth, attributing the disparity to the varying speeds of the attackers involved. Manchester United had taken 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 spot kick after Alex Jimenez pulled Matheus Cunha, yet United's Amad Diallo had his penalty appeal dismissed, both on the field and by the VAR, when he was held by Adrien Truffert. This incident occurred just before the hosts equalized. Later, Harry Maguire received a straight red card for pulling over Evanilson, giving away a penalty that Kroupi scored from. According to Webb, the key difference in these incidents lies in the speed at which the attackers were moving.
In the case of Amad, he was not moving particularly quickly, and while there was contact, it was a judgment call on the impact of the contact. In contrast, Evanilson was moving at a much faster pace when Maguire fouled him, making it a clear and obvious penalty. Webb emphasized that the on-field decision was respected by the VAR in both cases, but if the referee hadn't given a penalty in the Maguire foul, VAR would have intervened. Fernandes and head coach Michael Carrick expressed frustration and confusion over the disparity in the penalty decisions, with Carrick stating it was 'crazy' and 'baffling' not to award both penalties given the similar situations.
Webb clarified that the referee's call is crucial in applying VAR and that the VAR deemed the Amad incident a subjective call that could have gone either way, but ultimately supported the on-field decision.