Jeff Stelling has blasted PGMOL for their decision to give a penalty against Manchester United in the Red Devils’ 2-1 Premier League loss to West Ham United on Sunday afternoon – with the presenter particularly scorning Michael Oliver for ‘not keeping his nose out’ of the late decision that saw Matthijs de Ligt’s challenge on Danny Ings awarded as a spot-kick.
An enthralling game saw both teams level at 1-1 heading into stoppage time thanks to goals from Crysencio Summerville and Casemiro. But with the Hammers on the attack just a couple of minutes into stoppage time, a bouncing ball saw De Ligt and Ings come together with the latter going down under a challenge. Contact seemed minimal, but referee David Coote was instructed to head over to the VAR monitor before awarding a penalty after ‘two to three minutes’ of studying the screen.
Stelling Scorns PGMOL for Man Utd Penalty Decision
The presenter believes the Premier League still has its mishaps when it comes to officiating
With Coote pointing to the spot, Jarrod Bowen stepped up to slam home the spot kick, but Stelling wasn’t best pleased with the refereeing team for awarding a penalty – lambasting Coote for not showing ‘a bit of bottle’, alongside Oliver, who Stelling believed shouldn’t have got involved with the incident which was deemed to be a ‘clear and obvious error’ from Coote.
Manchester United’s Premier League statistics – Divisional squad ranking | ||
|---|---|---|
Stats | Output | Squad rank |
Goals scored | 8 | 18th |
Goals against | 11 | =7th |
Shots For Per Game | 14.4 | 8th |
Shots Against Per Game | 11.7 | 6th |
xG | 15.34 | 12th |
Speaking on talkSPORT, Stelling said:
“That’s not a penalty. The worst thing about it is, you know, VAR is meant to get involved for clear and obvious mistakes, and it really was not a clear and obvious mistake. Even when David Coote was told to go to the monitor, he took two to three minutes looking at the same pictures. I mean, he needed to have a bit of bottle and stick by his own decision.
“But of course, he’s got a senior referee in the VAR Studio in Michael Oliver. Oliver should have kept his nose out, because it wasn’t clear and obvious.
“Steve the Gooner says here: ‘Deano [Dean Saunders] says it all went against Manchester United, because they missed six chances and then a penalty was awarded against them? Good teams don’t miss six chances. And with the bunch of egotistical clowns we have officiating in the Premier League at the moment, they’re always likely to give a questionable decision to get their name in the headlines.’
“Well, thank you Steve – but Michael Oliver should have kept his counsel and kept quiet.”
The result leaves United languishing in the bottom half of the table, having picked up just 11 points from their opening nine games and massively struggling to put points on the board in the Premier League table.
Currently sitting in 14th, they have never finished in the bottom half in the Premier League era, with their worst-ever finish incidentally coming last season, with Erik ten Hag dragging them to an eighth-placed finish in the top-flight, albeit an FA Cup win somewhat saved their season.
As a result, the Red Devils boss is teetering on the edge – and a loss at home to Chelsea next week could see them go 16th in the league if two other results go against them.
Statistics courtesy of WhoScored. Correct as of 28-10-24.