Solskjaer angry after two ‘stonewall’ Ronaldo penalty claims are rejected
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer fears Premier League referees might be reluctant to award Cristiano Ronaldo penalties after claiming Manchester United were denied two “stonewall” examples yesterday.
West Ham were awarded an injury-time penalty of their own, missed by Mark Noble, who was brought on as a substitute to take it, a controversial decision defended by manager David Moyes.
Solskjaer did not dispute the penalty given to West Ham, following a Var check, with Luke Shaw deemed to have handled a cross, but was annoyed that appeals by United and Ronaldo, who became increasingly angry with referee Martin Atkinson, were turned down.
Solskjaer said “the first and the last” penalties should have been given. “I think they are stonewall and you cannot even argue against them. The lad [Vladimir Coufal] puts his foot out and Cristiano runs straight and he is fouled. The last one – Paul [Pogba] had a foul against him, Kurt Zouma. He did not touch him but he went over him, so why is Cristiano’s third appeal not a penalty? Hopefully it won’t be ‘Cristiano is never going to be a penalty’.”
David de Gea’s penalty save from Noble’s kick was his first in five years, and Solskjaer paid tribute to the way the goalkeeper had performed this season after losing his place during the last campaign.
“He is a different man,” Solskjaer said. “He asked to come back early from pre-season and he wanted to show how good he was. He is so focused and he has saved two points for us.”
Solskjaer was similarly effusive about match winner Jesse Lingard, having thwarted West Ham’s attempts to sign him during the summer and with the player having been at fault as United lost their opening Champions League group
away to Young Boys in midweek.
“He had a tough evening on Tuesday but he was knocked down and worked hard again,” Solskjaer said. “Jesse was quite clear. He wanted to fight for his place and be part of a United team that is going places. He is really contributing. He will play, of course, on Wednesday [in the Carabao Cup tie between the two sides] because I will make a few changes. He handles the setbacks well and is becoming a grown man.”
Moyes defended his decision to bring on Noble even though the penalty was his first touch of the ball. “We got a penalty kick and I have one of the best penalty takers in the Premier League and Europe, I think if I hadn’t made the decision I’d have been more annoyed with myself,” he argued.
“I asked him and he said, ‘I’m ready’. He has a great record, why would we not? We’ve missed a few recently so I thought I’d take the opportunity to bring Mark on. That is what happens in management. You have to make big decisions and sometimes they go and sometimes they don’t.”
Meanwhile, De Gea said: “Everything was a bit crazy. I saw Declan Rice with the ball and then suddenly I saw Mark Noble with the ball. It was a bit strange. He’s the specialist of the team but I made the save and we got the three points. As soon as I saw the ball hit Luke Shaw’s hand, I was always thinking about the penalty.”