Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images
Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images
Michael Carrick has responded to refereeing body Pro Ref’s apology after Erling Haaland’s offside goal cost his side in last week’s Manchester derby.
There was no shortage of discontent at Old Trafford when Manchester United suffered a 1-0 defeat to Man City. Not only was Erling Haaland clearly in an offside position when he scored the only goal, but the lacklustre performance also didn’t reflect well on Michael Carrick.
The United head coach is under fire after United crashed out of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night, after a 3-2 defeat to Brighton. The latest objective is to get back to winning ways when United travel to face Fulham at Craven Cottage on Sunday.
In the lead-up to the game, Carrick was asked for the first time about Pro Ref’s admission that Haaland’s goal shouldn’t have stood, along with a belated apology.
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Michael Carrick still has faith in VAR system
Despite United being the victims of a wrong call against rivals Man City, Carrick says he still has faith in VAR and the officials behind it. That doesn’t change the fact he’s not happy about Haaland’s goal standing last week.
Carrick understands that these things can happen in football – as a one-off – so long as they don’t keep setting United back throughout the season. That will only result in more underwhelming results as well as the feeling of injustice.
When asked about the statement from Pro Ref, Carrick was brutally honest, saying it doesn’t mean a lot. The game is over, and City took all three points.
“Yeah, listen, one-off things can happen at the time,” Carrick told reporters.
“It was a pretty big one, we know that. I don’t think I need to go over that, but yeah, I’ve got faith in it, of course. It’s the system that we work towards and that’s been used. So, the apology doesn’t mean an awful lot. I can appreciate and I respect it for them putting their hands up and saying we got that wrong. I think it happens, it does happen, but moving forward, yeah, we just have to deal with it, what’s thrown in front of us.
“And maybe we get one or two decisions on the back of how it balances out percentages or law of averages or whatever that may be, but that was a pretty big one to take and had a huge impact on that game, and that’s why it was particularly tough.”
⚡️ KEY TAKEAWAYS
Michael Carrick didn’t think much of Pro Ref’s apology for allowing Erling Haaland’s offside goal
Manchester United suffered a 1-0 defeat in the Manchester derby as a result
Carrick still has faith in the VAR system
Carrick will hope that no decisions go against United when they take on Fulham at Craven Cottage. The best-case scenario would be for the officials not to make the headlines, and for United to win by a comfortable margin following a convincing display.