Fulham boss Marco Silva was left furious by the VAR decision, which led to Manchester United’s opening goal against his side at Old Trafford on Sunday
Bruno Fernandes and John Brooks during Manchester United's win over Fulham
Bruno Fernandes and John Brooks during Manchester United's win over Fulham(Image: (Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images))
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Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has weighed in on the controversy surrounding Manchester United's opening goal against Fulham. Marco Silva slammed what he felt was an unprecedented VAR decision to award United a free-kick leading to their opening goal during his side's 3-2 defeat at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon.
Referee John Brooks initially pointed to the penalty spot after Matheus Cunha went down under Jorge Cuenca’s challenge. Replays showed Cuenca won the ball, but instead of overturning the decision completely, VAR indicated United should be given a free-kick on the touchline.
The explanation was that Brooks had given the penalty for a pull which happened outside the box. From the resulting free-kick, Casemiro headed home to open the scoring.
Silva felt the video assistant essentially re-refereed the game, but Gallagher said: "Straight away, I knew it wasn't a penalty.
“The trajectory of the ball told me everything. There's no doubt he lets go of the shirt before they enter the penalty area. It's factually outside, so they gave a free-kick."
Appearing alongside Gallagher on Sky’s Ref Watch, former Premier League midfielder Jamie O'Hara said: "It's a mess. The referee is not looking at the shirt pull. The referee blows up for the tackle, not for the shirt pull. I'd love to see what the audio is saying.
"They decide it's not a penalty, so then it should be a drop ball for Fulham, but they go back to try and get themselves out of jail.
Marco Silva fumed after Fulham's defeat at Manchester United
Marco Silva fumed after Fulham's defeat at Manchester United(Image: Getty Images)
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"The referee makes the decision on the tackle, not the shirt pull. The problem they've got is they go back and give the shirt pull, which is outside the area and then they score from the free-kick."
Speaking after the game at Old Trafford, Silva fumed: “The penalty was given – it was a bad, bad, bad decision from John Brooks.
“The penalty was given for the tackle of Cuenca, that was clear. Then after they found the pull three, four seconds before.
“The ball went for a corner. The feedback we got on the touchline was that after the review John Brooks was going to go to the screen because in VAR’s opinion it was not a penalty and that after that comes a completely different decision, they give a free-kick for a pull.
“It’s the first time this season that a penalty has been given for one incident and then a VAR decision comes from a completely different incident and gave a free-kick. It’s the first time we have seen that this season, last season, but maybe it comes more in the future.”