Manchester City could count themselves lucky to “escape” Old Trafford with just a 2-0 loss, and VAR helped them immensely in that endeavour.
Man Utd had three goals ruled out for offside and struck the post twice to save Man City’s blushes, who would have been at the end of a hammering otherwise.
The first two offside goals were fairly clear-cut, but the third one scored by Mason Mount left the Man Utd fans confused and frustrated.
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United in Focus spoke to Mark Clattenburg to make sense of the situation, and he delivered a clear verdict on the passage of play.
Photo by Michael Regan/Getty ImagesMark Clattenburg on Mason Mount’s disallowed goal vs City
Carrick had a clear game plan to hurt Man City, which was to play the ball forward quickly to runners in space behind the high line of Guardiola.
It worked like a charm, as United struck the post twice, and remarkably, had three goals ruled out for offside.
United were denied a dream ending to the game in injury time when Mason Mount got to the end of Matheus Cunha’s cross for a goal that would have ensured a 3-0 win for United.
However, VAR intervened and ruled Cunha offside, much to the dismay of Man Utd fans.
Fans argued that the offside line was drawn incorrectly, as it should have been drawn along the final defenders.
Instead, it was drawn against the second-most rear defender, which made it so that Cunha was offside by the tightest margin.
Clattenburg urged fans to trust the system and technology, adding that Cunha’s foot was beyond the tolerance limit of 5 cms.
He said: “The VAR replays showed that Cunha’s foot was ahead of the second most rear defender and was judged to be more than the tolerance of 5cms offside.
“We have to trust the system and the technology!”
Man Utd created their own luck vs City
United could count themselves a bit unfortunate for having that third goal ruled out, but this game was an example of how a team can create their own luck.
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Far too often under Ruben Amorim, United would create some chances in the game, miss them, and the Man Utd manager would bemoan the lack of cutting edge.
Against City, United were wasteful again, but they kept going and ensured not even being wasteful would hurt them, such was the sheer volume of chances created.
No team is going to convert chances at an unrealistic rate, but the reason why that metric is not talked about much for successful teams is that they overcome that by creating many chances.
That is what happened against City, which is why the third disallowed goal was just a potential cherry on the cake instead of being a necessary saviour.
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