Ole Gunnar Solskjaer joked that ‘someone must have been asleep’ after VAR officials bizarrely reviewed a Manchester Untied penalty decision vs West Brom.
United were awarded a penalty on 62 minutes by referee Craig Pawson when Harry Maguire was adjudged to have been felled by Semi Ajayi in the box.
It was the perfect chance for United to complete the turnaround in a performance that was lacking inspiration at the Hawthorns.
But after second viewing it appeared obvious that Maguire was offside in the build-up to the free-kick which made any decision regarding a foul irrelevant.
Regardless, referee Pawson was recommended by VAR Jon Moss to go to the pitch side monitor before overturning his original decision.
While he decided Ajayi didn’t make enough contact to concede a penalty, the fact that Maguire was offside appeared to be ignored.
Solskjaer joked that the officials at Stockley Park could have benefitted from caffeine after such a bizarre sequence of events.
“I see Harry being in an offside position,” he said in his post-match press conference, as quoted by the Athletic’s Laurie Whitwell.
“Someone must have asleep at Stockley Park. Someone needs to brew some coffee.”
United rarely threatened in their pursuit of a winner until Harry Maguire’s late header was excellently saved by former-Red Sam Johnstone.
The Reds missed the opportunity to close the gap to leaders Manchester City to five points and have now dropped points against two relegation favourites within three weeks after the defeat to Sheffield United.
See footage of the incident below. Courtesy of Sky Sports.
PENALTY OVERTURNED! 🔄
Craig Pawson consults the monitor and decides that Ajayi hasn't made sufficient contact for Maguire to go to ground. No penalty.
📺 Watch on Sky Sports PL
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