Misery for McLean as Norwich denied late leveller by VAR
HAD you told Norwich at the start of the season they’d be above Arsenal at the first international break, they’d have been pretty pleased with themselves. Sadly, that’s scant consolation when you’re on nil points.
‘You’re going down with the Arsenal,’ sang Leicester’s supporters at Carrow Road.
In truth, only the harshest of critics would crucify Norwich for opening the season with backto-back losses to Liverpool and Manchester City, particularly as their new players find their feet.
In this third outing together, Daniel Farke’s players put up a fight and left feeling they were robbed of their first result.
Scotland midfielder Kenny McLean thought he had secured a late equaliser at Carrow Road. So did Norwich’s supporters.
Then confusion took hold. It turned out as the corner flew in, Todd Cantwell was standing in an offside position, directly in front of Kasper Schmeichel. Maybe he was not impeding the Leicester goalkeeper’s movement, but he was in the line of sight.
VAR disallowed the goal and it was defeat for Norwich, victory for Leicester with Marc Albrighton scoring the winner.
Farke hit out at the decision, saying: ‘It was a VAR mistake and we have to accept this.
‘My player cannot be in an offside position because Todd does not take part in the game. He was standing in front of him but he doesn’t disturb him.
‘If it is just Schmeichel against McLean, he has no chance.
‘For me, it was a mistake because he can’t be offside, but what can we do? Players make mistakes, the ref makes mistake, even myself and my coaches sometimes make mistakes, so the VAR can make mistakes as well.’
Leicester had the lead inside eight minutes. Young Brandon Williams did not enjoy the greatest of starts on his Premier League debut for Norwich. The 20-yearold, on loan from Manchester United, took a heavy touch which allowed Ricardo Pereira in.
The Leicester right-back rushed past Ben Gibson before cutting back for Jamie Vardy to fire home.
Caglar Soyuncu had already come close to gifting Norwich a way back with a loose pass which resulted in Schmeichel needing to deny Pierre Lees-Melou.
The Foxes defender got away with that, but not his next mistake.
Soyuncu had slid in to stop LeesMelou in the box and referee Robert Jones only gave a corner. VAR David Coote had other ideas, however. After lengthy deliberations and several replays, Jones Jones pointed to the penalty spot.
Schmeichel went left, Teemu Pukki went right, and it was 1-1.
Leicester piled on the pressure in the second half and struck with 14 minutes left. Vardy played a pass out wide and Albrighton drove the ball into the far left corner of the net, out of the reach of Krul.
Norwich still believed they could salvage something, and they thought they had in the 80th minute when McLean headed home a corner. It was not to be.