Furious Wilder's VAR blast after new penalty miss
arm in the area. Referee Lee Mason checked with Stockley Park but instead gave a corner to the home side. And Wilder became the latest manager to feel wronged. ‘It’s a penalty,’ he said. ‘If you look, there’s two or three of our boys waiting to tap it in. I don’t think they can get it wrong. The hand was out there.’
Last week referees’ chief Mike Riley told a Premier League meeting that the replay system, introduced this season, had already made four incorrect decisions.
And the frustrated Blades boss referenced that meeting while criticising what had happened. ‘Maybe in four weeks’ time someone will come out and say it’s a mistake,’ he said. ‘You expect with all the talk and the debate it’s a pretty easy one to pick up. I don’t know why they had that meeting then, eh?’
He was also not holding his breath for a rational explanation. ‘We’ll get something back during the week that
will make me feel better,’ he added. ‘I don’t think so.’
Victorious Saints boss Ralph Hassenhuttl, had a different view. ‘VAR makes the game more fair,’ he said. ‘Maybe we were the team that were lucky but I think it should make the game more fair and I think it did that.’
There was also controversy in Brighton where home striker Neal Maupay felt a red card should have been shown to Burnley’s Ashley Westwood after a challenge late in the 1-1 draw at the Amex yesterday, writes Steve Stammers.
Westwood was shown a yellow card by referee Michael Oliver for the tackle that left Maupay with a cut head.
It emerged after the match that Oliver had consulted the VAR team after booking Westwood, but there was no indication to the crowd that VAR was consulted.
Maupay, however, was in no doubt that there should have been a heavier penalty for the Burnley midfield player.
Asked by talkSPORT if he thought it was a red card offence, he said: ‘I didn’t see the replay but if I only look at my face, I would say yes. But we have VAR and the referees can check the decision they make. If they say yellow, we can’t really say much.’