Webb admitted VAR blunder during Holland's winning goal

PGMOL chief refereeing officer Howard Webb has officially admitted the failure of the VAR system when Erling Holland scored the winning goal in Sunday's Manchester derby. Speaking on Match Officials Mic'd Up, Webb expressed his extreme disappointment at the actions of video assistant Matt Donoghue and his assistant Blake Antrobus, who failed to record Enzo Fernandez's offside. Due to this mistake, both referees were suspended until the end of the half-time of the national team match. The incident happened in the 60th minute of the meeting at Old Trafford. Holland scored a goal that was initially disallowed on the field. The semi-automatic offside detection technology detected that the Norwegian was in the correct position. However, the video referees completely ignored the actions of Enzo Fernandez, who was offside and actively influenced the episode - it was he who forced the MU defender Lisandro Martinez to change his position, leaving Holland free at the far post. "The video assistants got 'tunnel vision' on Holland. Fernandez didn't touch the ball, but he clearly influenced the game. It's an obvious subjective offside and the goal should have been disallowed. No one is more disappointed by this than the referees themselves," emphasized Howard Webb. Separately, the head of PGMOL commented on Phil Foden's dismissal in the 23rd minute for kicking Bruno Fernandes. Pundits and fans debated why the Portuguese was not shown a red card for similar actions in return Webb fully supported the decision of the head referee, explaining the difference in the episodes: Foden's actions: A strong kick to the opponent's upper body meets the criteria for using excessive force and is classified as violent conduct (red card). Actions by Fernandes: The retaliatory kick to Foden's buttock was annoyed rather than brutal, leading to only a caution (yellow card). We will remind, thanks to the minimal victory (1:0), the townspeople continue to share the first place with Arsenal, having 12 points.