Controversy and PGMOL’s VAR Analysis Surround Manchester United’s Defeat to Wolves
Premier League Museum Admin 
VAR NO GOAL
Manchester United’s first half of the season was marked by a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Wolves on Boxing Day. The match was fraught with controversy even before it began, with Wolves deciding to replace manager Gary O’Neil with Vitor Pereira in the week leading up to the game. Adding to the drama, Ipswich Town scored the winning goal and assist against Man United. The goal, scored directly from a corner, was a point of contention, with Man United arguing that their goalkeeper, Andre Onana, had been impeded by Wolves defender Matt Doherty. The incident was reviewed by PGMOL chief Webb and VAR Matt Donohue, and their discussion was released as part of the Premier League’s Match Officials Mic’d Up series.
VAR Matt Donohue said “OK, the main thing here is any challenge between Doherty and Onana. Do you see anything else to look at? Doherty stands there. Onana engages Doherty. There’s nothing on the foot, there’s no hold of the hand, there’s nothing that is an offence. We definitely see more tactics being employed at set-pieces. These are things that we have to adapt to, of course, and be aware of and and decide whether something is legal or not within the laws of the game.”
PGMOL chief Webb added, “And we think this one is. All players are entitled to their position on the field of play. Matt Doherty here stood in front, he’s entitled to be there. Yes, he’s going to make life difficult for Andre Onana, but he’s got an absolute right to be there and to take that position. In the end Onana moves backwards away from Doherty and kind of moves a little bit into Bueno. So we just see this is all very normal. We don’t see an offense by a Wolves player in this situation. Of course, defending teams often now think about how they can counter-act these these tactics by attacking teams and being close to goalkeepers. But in this situation we see nothing like that. And this leads to a goal being scored direct from the corner but not because of a foul by any of the attackers in that location.”
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