Manchester United traveled to Denmark last Wednesday for a Champions League group stage match against FC Copenhagen at Parken. This was a replay of the match a fortnight ago which United won 1-0 at Old Trafford. The Red Devils needed a victory to get out of 3rd place in the group and help secure progression to the knockout stages.
A full match summary would easily be close to 3000 words given it’s chaotic nature, so I am not going to fully summarize this one. United scored the first two goals via striker Rasmus Højlund, who continued his fine form in the Champions League this season. He hasn’t shown up in the domestic league yet, but he’s been on fire in the Champions League. The game changed however when forward Marcus Rashford was controversially sent off on 42 minutes. The Red Devils showed some signs of mental weakness yet again, and Copenhagen got two goals in quick succession before halftime. More on the decision to send off Rashford (and other suspect referee/VAR decisions) below.
Despite the lads collapsing a little bit at the end of the first half, United took the lead again on 69 minutes when midfielder Bruno Fernandes converted a penalty to give them a 3-2 lead. Unfortunately though, Copenhagen scored again in the 83rd minute to level the score, and then got a winner on 87 minutes. Playing with ten men for over a half probably got to the team towards the end, which may explain the collapse. It was a devastating blow to United’s hopes of moving on to the knockout rounds. They are bottom of Group A with a daunting trip to Turkey to play Galatasaray next, and then they host group leaders Bayern Munich at Old Trafford in the final group game. Needless to say, I am not optimistic.
Now, a couple of things before I dive into the refereeing decisions – there’s no excuse for this team to concede two goals just before half time. Can’t have it. This team is still mentally fragile, and that is something manager Erik ten Hag must work on. The tactics weren’t terrible in this match and United were not aided by the officials, but the defending simply has to improve.
That said, VAR is making this sport unwatchable. It seems like in every match that’s played, there’s at least one controversial decision made by a VAR official that affects the outcome of the match. Rashford’s red card was – simply put – not a red card until the referee was alerted to review it by the VAR official. United’s penalty to give them the lead was also (candidly) not a penalty. And it’s not just United that are getting screwed by VAR, even though it seems like VAR has been overtly harsh on us this season. Mikel Arteta and Jurgen Klopp, managers of Arsenal and Liverpool respectively, have both been publicly critical of this particular instant replay system in recent weeks. Arsenal had a goal given against them against Newcastle that should not have been given due to a foul, which even the Premier League officiating council has since admitted was the wrong decision. There’s a just a laundry list of incidents that have caused a mountain of controversy this season, and the problem is present in all different competitions.
If the goal of VAR was to reduce the controversy of the game and ensure that correct decisions are made, then VAR and the application thereof has failed spectacularly. There’s no clarity in what the standard of proof is, and subjectivity is reigning supreme when subjectivity was supposed to be eliminated altogether. No one knows what a “clear error” is, and no one seems to know how far back VAR officials are looking when it comes to confirming or negating a given referee’s decision.
Perhaps the biggest issue with VAR however is that it has taken the excitement of scoring a goal out of the game. It used to be that as soon as the ball hit the back of the net you could wheel away and celebrate, but not anymore. VAR has made everyone stop and pause. VAR makes everyone wait. You can score, but then you have to wait for the VAR check to happen before you can really celebrate. The unsteady application of the review system has made everyone, particularly United fans, extremely cynical. When Bruno scored the winner last weekend against Fulham, I expected the VAR official to go and find some random rule or incident that would have disallowed the goal. Further, these reviews often take as long as 4 or 5 minutes, which totally kills the momentum and flow of a match. It’s much more difficult to enjoy football with the way VAR is currently done, and that’s going to lead to fewer spectators, which in turn will lead to less money coming in.
It behooves the Prem and other domestic leagues to review their VAR rules and when it is supposed to be applied. There also needs to be a clear standard of proof as to when a referee’s decision should be overturned or confirmed. This problem must be fixed in order to make the sport watchable again. Instant replay is a good idea in general, but of course the actual replays are not the issue. It’s the human application and interpretation of what the replays show. These inconsistencies must be fixed by the powers that be.
As far as United goes, I think they should throw in the towel on Europe this season. I don’t want us in the Europa League, as it will only detract from the remaining domestic campaign. Center back Jonny Evans was also injured at the end of the first half, which makes our back line even thinner than it already was. Well done to Højlund and left back Diogo Dalot for having good matches, but the collective mental collapse after Rashford’s red card was unacceptable. Bad decisions are going to happen with or without VAR, and professional players should be able to cope with that mentally.
United play newly-promoted Luton Town at Old Trafford on Saturday in the Premier League. Last but not least – this is my 350th post on this blog. Thank you all so very much for reading! I hope I have been able to spur your interest in this fantastic sport.
Glazers Out!
4-4-2 