Erik ten Hag refuses to comment on Craig Pawson’s performance in the goalless draw for Manchester United vs Newcastle

Manchester United were held to a goalless draw against Newcastle United at Old Trafford with both teams putting on an exciting watch for the supporters. Although the game remained goalless, there were multiple opportunities for either team to score along with some arguable refereeing decisions by Craig Pawson.

For us, most notably there were two decisions which did not go our way and could have potentially changed the outcome of the game.

First was a goal from Cristiano Ronaldo who intercepted the ball from keeper Nick Pope when it was stationary, believing it to be in play. However, the goal was not given. Instead, Ronaldo was handed a yellow card.

The second major moment of the game for us came when Jadon Sancho was tackled by Sean Longstaff in the penalty area and it looked like a blatant foul on the winger.

However, Pawson did not deem it enough for a penalty shout and the thought, much to the disbelief of everyone on the United bench, was also shared by VAR officials.

Post the goalless draw (h/t Manchester Evening News), Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag was asked his opinion on certain officiating decisions in the game and the manager admits that he did voice his opinion to the referees post the completion of the game but refused to disclose what he said.

“I don’t have a comment, everyone has seen it. As I said, I shared that with [the officials]. Everyone has seen what happened today on the pitch, so I don’t have a comment.”

Ten Hag clearly knows the consequences of publicly voicing opinions against officiating decisions and is therefore reserved about commenting further on the matter.

However, it does not take away the fact that somehow since the beginning of the season, certain decisions have not been going in our favour of us which can have long-standing effects come to the end of the season.

A victory today would have ensured that we stayed in close proximity to the four teams above us with the next two important fixtures against Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea coming up.

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In conclusion, although it was a goalless draw, there were many positive signs from the team, especially in the second half and with every passing week the team feels more coherent with the vision laid out by Ten Hag.