Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has pinned the blame on VAR after Manchester United suffered a disappointing defeat to Aston Villa at Old Trafford.
Man United, who are considered among the frontrunners for the Premier League title, suffered their second defeat of the week after Kortney Hause’s defeat made the difference on an afternoon to forget for the Red Devils.
Bruno Fernandes missed a penalty in stoppage time to seal Man United’s defeat, but Solskjaer has refrained from blaming his players, despite the fact it was their sub-par performances which ultimately resulted in the loss.
Instead, Solskjaer has passed the blame onto VAR for their failure to rule out Hause’s goal. The Norwegian is insistent that the goal should not have stood, with Ollie Watkins impeding David de Gea while in an offside position.
Here’s what Solskjaer had to say, as told MUTV, quoted by Manchester Evening News:
“Decision making on VAR cost us again, unfortunately.”
“The goal is offside, as Hause heads it Watkins is actually touching David (De Gea) so he is impeding with him. I can’t see the consistency anywhere with the VAR and the decision-making.”
As the ball made contact with Hause’s head, Watkins may well have been marginally in an offside position, but there is only a remote possibility of de Gea keeping the ball out his net, regardless.
Solskjaer will not want to blame himself in the public eye while under pressure, while also wanting to protect his players. This is likely the Man United boss deflecting, rather than actually believing there was wrongdoing on VAR’s part.
First it was Klopp’s statements made way back that have resulted in the team being denied penalties & now its VAR that has cost the team.When is he going to take responsibility for the poor performances we are witnessing I wonder?
So with one breath OGS claims Villa’s players behaved badly and put Fernandes off. With the next he said Fernandes is tough and these antics didn’t get into his head. Which is is OGS, can’t be both? Why not admit you were simply outplayed, out fought and out coached? Anything other than a Villa victory would have been a travesty.