Highlights: Maguire Sent Off as Manchester United Draw 2-2 at Bournemouth
Manchester United expressed strong dissatisfaction with what they described as "astonishing" and "baffling" refereeing decisions after their 2-2 draw against Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium, where two penalties were awarded and one was not.
Harry Maguire's return to the England squad was overshadowed by his sending off late in the match, but it was the refereeing that left United frustrated.
Maguire, recalled to England for the first time in nearly two years ahead of friendlies against Uruguay and Japan, was shown a red card for pulling back Evanilson inside the penalty area while Manchester United led 2-1 with ten minutes remaining.
Bournemouth's Junior Kroupi converted the resulting penalty, but United's interim manager Michael Carrick was particularly angry about a penalty that was not awarded to his team earlier in the game for a similar challenge.
The unawarded penalty involved Amad Diallo, who appeared to be pulled back inside the box by Adrien Truffert, with Manchester United leading 1-0 after Bruno Fernandes had scored from the spot.
Carrick described the decisions as "baffling" and stated:
"My first [thought] is he definitely got one of them wrong, because he's given one penalty for the same thing that he's not given one as a two-armed grab.
So the Matheus Cunha one, he gives, the second one on Amad he doesn't, which is, I think, almost identical, really, two hands on someone in the box, and they go over and they're in control of the ball.
Massive moment and I don't understand how you can give one and not the other - it's crazy. It's as obvious as you can get.
It's clear, if that's what he believes is a penalty to start with then the second one has to be. I don't understand how you can't give that. And then the goal and after that it was chaos. It's astonishing."
Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes also questioned the consistency of the penalty decisions, stating:
"I think we could have gone 2-0 up, and then we ended up conceding a goal, not getting a penalty and then we get a penalty against, where more or less it's the same situation as Amad.
One is awarded as a penalty, the other one not. I know it's difficult for the referee to give two penalties in the same game for the same team but what I don't understand is why VAR doesn't get involved in that situation."
What exactly happened?
After a goalless first half, the match intensified when Manchester United were awarded a penalty following a foul by Alex Jimenez on Matheus Cunha inside the penalty area.
Bruno Fernandes converted the penalty, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way to give United the lead.
Shortly after, Diallo went down in the box after an apparent pull on his arm by Truffert, but no penalty was awarded. Bournemouth then countered and equalised through Ryan Christie.
The Premier League match centre later clarified that the referee's decision to deny a penalty for the challenge by Truffert was reviewed and confirmed by VAR, which deemed the contact insufficient for a foul.
Manchester United regained the lead when Bournemouth's James Hill deflected a Bruno Fernandes corner into his own net.
However, the match's key controversy arose when Maguire pulled back Evanilson inside the penalty area and was shown a straight red card. Kroupi converted the resulting penalty for Bournemouth.
The Premier League match centre stated that the referee's decision to award the penalty and red card was reviewed and confirmed by VAR, which judged it to be a holding offence with no attempt to play the ball, denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity.
Former Manchester United striker Andy Cole commented on Sky Sports:
"When you're talking about going down easily, he's [Evanilson] gone down easily there.
As a manager, of course you're going to be disappointed, Bruno's [Fernandes] disappointed as well. When you break it down, what is the difference? I get the sending off but when we're talking about the penalty itself, why is one given and one not?"
Conversely, ex-Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp felt the decisions were justified:
"I think the difference is he's going to goal and he's denying a goalscoring opportunity and Harry [Maguire] with the momentum is putting his arm out. It's extremely harsh but I can see why he's given that one."
On the Diallo incident, Redknapp added:
"I think it'd have been really harsh. I think you can see Truffert is being aggressive with him, he does manhandle him a bit. I just don't think it's enough to be a penalty."
VAR did not intervene to ask referee Stuart Attwell to review any of the decisions.
'The goal is consistency of intervention'
Manchester United supporters have questioned the differing outcomes between Diallo's penalty claim and the penalty awarded against Maguire.
The reason VAR did not intervene is tied to the principle of consistency of intervention rather than consistency of decision-making.
VAR's role is limited to correcting clear and obvious errors. Given the subjective nature of football's laws, many incidents fall into a grey area where either decision can be supported.
Therefore, it is possible for two similar incidents to have opposing outcomes on the field without VAR intervening, as was the case at the Vitality Stadium.
This aspect of VAR has led to frustration among fans, who perceive it as facilitating inconsistency, although this is consistent with its intended purpose.
What do fans think?
Becky commented:
"Inconsistent refereeing really has the power to ruin the game. I don't mind one referee not being great, I can stomach that. But when there is a VAR and they don't make the right call when they have the chance - that's just not OK."
Freddie stated:
"We should be talking about a 3-1 win for Manchester United but instead we have to have yet another conversation about the terrible inconsistency in officiating that is costing teams vital points every week."
Ryan added:
"VAR is obviously not working as it should do, there seems to be more mistakes now than before VAR came in. It's time that VAR is scrapped until the referees can learn how to use the system properly."
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