![\"Matt](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2.77552619.jpg\")
Matt Donohue has been stood down from officiating until after the upcoming international break (Nick Potts\/PA)<\/p>\nErling Haaland\u2019s goal was given after a review in Sunday\u2019s match against Manchester United at Old Trafford.<\/p>\n
Donohue and assistant VAR Blake Antrobus correctly determined Haaland was onside, but failed to recognise Enzo Fernandez was interfering with play in an offside position as he dived forward in an effort to head in Josko Gvardiol\u2019s cross.<\/p>\n
The decision to award the goal has caused uproar, and even to calls for VAR to be scrapped altogether, with Donohue and Antrobus stood down by Pro Ref for this weekend\u2019s Premier League matches.<\/p>\n
Michael Carrick claimed it was \u201cworrying\u201d for football that Erling Haaland\u2019s controversial winner in Sunday\u2019s Manchester derby was allowed to stand.<\/p>\n
Webb, the chief refereeing officer at Pro Ref, said on the \u2018Match Officials: Mic\u2019d Up\u2019 programme which aired on Tuesday: \u201cI was really disappointed with this outcome. We all are. None more so than the officials themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey take a lot of personal pride in what they do and they\u2019re obviously hurting now, having fallen short in this situation. They\u2019ll not be officiating again until after the international break.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve reached out to Manchester United and acknowledged the error, as we do when these things happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t happen that often, but we want to ensure that we are transparent and open, and we\u2019ve played the audio and the footage to the football club to let them know what happened, and we\u2019re going to review this situation to understand what elements of process fell down in this situation which meant we didn\u2019t get to the right outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Webb felt Donohue was too focused on whether or not Fernandez had touched the ball, rather than considering whether he was interfering.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn that moment, he (Donohue) gets tunnel vision,\u201d Webb said.<\/p>\n
Matt Donohue has been stood down from officiating until after the upcoming international break (Nick Potts\/PA)<\/p>\n
\u201cHe gets focused on Haaland, and it\u2019s down to the rest of his team to pull him out of that tunnel, and unfortunately, that didn\u2019t happen on this occasion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you watch it casually, you think, \u2018Well, this is obviously offside against Fernandez\u2019. When you\u2019re sat in that chair, and you\u2019ve got other things going through your head in relation to the process that you need to follow to establish Haaland\u2019s position, to follow through the attacking phase of play, you can get that tunnel-vision sort of effect.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen that before. We\u2019ve put processes in place that protect us from that, with the assistant VAR stepping in to pull the VAR out of that tunnel, but it didn\u2019t happen on this occasion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis goal should have been disallowed. And highly unfortunately, it wasn\u2019t, and we\u2019ll review it, reflect upon it, and try to take the learning forward to prevent this unusual type of error from happening again.\u201d<\/p>\n
United head coach Michael Carrick said it was \u201cworrying\u201d that the goal had been allowed to stand, while ex-United striker and BBC Match of the Day pundit Wayne Rooney said he was \u201cbaffled\u201d by the decision.<\/p>\n
Webb felt referee Michael Oliver was right to send off City midfielder Phil Foden for a kick out at United\u2019s Bruno Fernandes earlier in the same game.<\/p>\n
There have been suggestions Fernandes should also have seen red after he kicked Foden while the England man was on the ground, but Webb said: \u201cIt is more petulant than violent. To be violent conduct, it has to have excessive force or brutality, and when you look at that, particularly in full speed, it doesn\u2019t have those elements. So therefore, this would be a yellow card offence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Webb explained that there was no option for the VAR to recommend a yellow for Fernandes because the referee saw, and sanctioned, the red card challenge by Foden on the field.<\/p>\n
Webb also felt the officials followed the right process in allowing a goal for United against Ipswich in match week two to stand, and in disallowing a Neco Williams goal for Nottingham Forest against Tottenham.<\/p>\n
United\u2019s second goal against Ipswich on August 30 was given because a Harry Maguire shot deflected in off Jacob Greaves. If it had gone straight in, the goal would have had to be disallowed for accidental handball.<\/p>\n
Webb described the law which penalises accidental handballs when they occur immediately before a goal is scored as \u201ca bit of a nonsense\u201d, adding: \u201cI think we ought to look at this and just allow the officials to determine whether it\u2019s a normal handball offence (regardless of whether a goal directly results or not).<\/p>\n
\u201cDid (Maguire) make himself bigger? Did he deliberately handle the ball? And I don\u2019t think he does those things in this situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Forest full-back Williams fell foul of the same law after his arm was judged to touched the ball as he bundled it over the line against Spurs for what would have been the winner in their match on September 5.<\/p>\n