Pens ‘should’ve been retaken’
OLE Gunnar Solskjaer believes both of United’s penalties should have been retaken in the 3-1 win at Norwich City.
VAR overruled referee Stuart Attwell on each occasion after it deemed Ben Godfrey had upended Daniel James and Todd Cantwell had blocked Fred’s shot with his hand.
Norwich keeper Tim Krul denied Marcus Rashford on 29 minutes and Anthony Martial had his 44th-minute spotkick pushed around the post.
Rashford and Martial both scored fine goals from open play, yet Solskjaer felt VAR should have intervened again and penalised
Krul because he was off his line. “I thought the reaction to his miss was excellent,” Solskjaer said of Rashford. “Ran back, chased, won the ball back, scored a great goal, but both penalties should have been retaken.
“He’s off his line by a yard, the keeper, so even though I didn’t think the first one should’ve been a penalty, they could have gone back and given him another chance.
“It’s like the six-second rule with the goalkeeper in his hands, that was used for a couple of months and it’s out of the window, and this as well on penalties – he’s a yard off his line, we looked at it the first month and now it’s gone.
“It’s so simple and so easy [to check the ‘keeper’s positioning].
But he’s seen it there as well, we can see it live – he is off his line.
“He’s actually one of the best in the world, Tim Krul, on penalties. Remember the World Cup in 2014? He’s clever in his mannerism as well, should’ve been booked probably, because he stayed away from the goal, but should have both been retaken.”
United have missed four out of six league penalties this term and Solskjaer was asked who would take the next one. He said: “Make sure Juan Mata is on the pitch!
“We’ve won a few shootouts already this season in the League Cup and pre-season tour [against AC Milan], and they all score penalties apart from the ones that matter!”