Latest Manchester United news as Mark Clattenburg slams decision that let Arsenal's goal stand at Old Trafford
Altay Bayindir
Altay Bayindir tried to save Arsenal's corner(Image: Getty Images)
Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg believes Arsenal's goal against Manchester United should not have stood and that the Professional Game Match Officials Board (PGMOL) 'failed' to come to the correct verdict over the incident.
United began their season with a 1-0 home defeat to Arsenal, with Riccardo Calafiori scoring the only goal of the match. Despite the loss, United put on a productive display for the home crowd and created several goalscoring opportunities
The improvement was clear, but Clattenburg believes the scoreline could have been different. For Arsenal’s goal, William Saliba seemed to wrestle with Mason Mount, preventing Altay Bayindir from properly punching away the cross.
"In real time, I did not see any problem with Arsenal’s goal, but when you watch it in slow motion you can see Mason Mount was having his shirt pulled and Bayindir was being impeded while challenging for the ball," the former referee said. "PGMOL said they would punish more this type of challenge, but again they failed."
PGMOL is the body responsible for refereeing games in English professional association football and employs the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) to assist the on-field referee with major match decisions including goals, penalties, direct red cards, and mistaken identity.
This month, PGMOL chief Howard Webb revealed that referees will award more penalties for holding in this season. "We have to identify those situations that do fall in line with the feedback that we had, that there are just a few too many examples of players clearly pulling people back, impacting their ability to move to the ball or some clear extreme actions are not being penalised," said Webb.
"They're the ones I expect us to catch. Therefore, I would expect this time next year to have been a few more penalties given for holding offences than what we've seen this year. But not a huge swing of the pendulum because that's really difficult to sustain over a period of time."
United have drawn some encouragement from their opening clash. Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha impressed, creating more goalscoring chances in one afternoon against Arsenal than they managed in an entire month last season.
Ruben Amorim's side will aim to convert those chances in their next match against Fulham at Craven Cottage on Sunday (August 24, 4.30pm).
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