Pranav Nair
Mark Clattenburg believes Manchester United were hard done at Stamford Bridge
Writing in his column for the Daily Mail, former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg believes Manchester United were hard done by Stuart Attwell’s penalty call against Chelsea.
A Marcus Rashford free-kick was parried away by Edouard Mendy only for the ball to strike Callum Hudson-Odoi’s arm. Despite consulting VAR on what looked to be a stonewall penalty, the referee ruled in Chelsea’s favour.
While the decision saw Ole Gunnar Solskjaer furious, Clattenburg was left speechless.
“I am amazed Manchester United were not awarded a penalty in the first half for the clear handball by Callum Hudson-Odoi.”
Unlike Attwell, Clattenburg believes the decision was a straightforward one. He is in no doubt that the ball struck Hudson-Odoi’s arm and United missed out on a clear foul.
Given the close nature of the match, that decision could have been the turning point. With a dependable penalty taker in Bruno Fernandes, there was every chance that we could have come away with three points instead of one.
Similar to Clattenburg, VAR Chris Kavanagh also thought referee Stuart Attwell had missed a clear penalty. Despite giving him the opportunity to review it on the pitch-side monitor, the official stuck to his guns.
While VAR is a welcome addition to the game, its implementation has been far from flawless. There is a clear lack of consistency when it comes to decision making, leaving it to the interpretation of the official in charge.
As far as poor decisions go, there are few that can trump the one at the Bridge yesterday.
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While every team have their share of hits and misses, it is preposterous that referees are not held accountable for their actions. One gets the feeling that as long as they keep getting away with murder, they find no need to improve their game-calling ability.
