{"id":447289,"date":"2026-02-03T21:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T21:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/447289\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T21:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T21:44:12","slug":"man-united-get-new-referee-penalty-verdict-as-vars-role-in-mistake-highlighted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/447289\/","title":{"rendered":"Man United get new referee penalty verdict as VAR&#8217;s role in &#8216;mistake&#8217; highlighted"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fulham boss Marco Silva was left furious by the VAR decision, which led to Manchester United\u2019s opening goal against his side at Old Trafford on Sunday<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Bruno Fernandes and John Brooks during Manchester United's win over Fulham\" loading=\"eager\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0_GettyImages-2258784740.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"Bruno Fernandes and John Brooks during Manchester United's win over Fulham\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Bruno Fernandes and John Brooks during Manchester United&#8217;s win over Fulham(Image: (Paul ELLIS \/ AFP via Getty Images))<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has weighed in on the controversy surrounding Manchester United&#8217;s opening goal against Fulham. Marco Silva slammed what he felt was an unprecedented VAR decision to award <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/manchester-united-fc\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">United<\/a> a free-kick leading to their opening goal during his side&#8217;s 3-2 defeat at <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/old-trafford\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Old Trafford<\/a> on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Referee John Brooks initially pointed to the penalty spot after <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/matheus-cunha\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">Matheus Cunha<\/a> went down under Jorge Cuenca\u2019s challenge. Replays showed Cuenca won the ball, but instead of overturning the decision completely, VAR indicated United should be given a free-kick on the touchline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The explanation was that Brooks had given the penalty for a pull which happened outside the box. From the resulting free-kick, <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/casemiro\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">Casemiro <\/a>headed home to open the scoring.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\"><a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/subscribe\/\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Try MEN Premium NOW for just \u00a31<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Silva felt the video assistant essentially re-refereed the game, but Gallagher said: &#8220;Straight away, I knew it wasn&#8217;t a penalty.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cThe trajectory of the ball told me everything. There&#8217;s no doubt he lets go of the shirt before they enter the penalty area. It&#8217;s factually outside, so they gave a free-kick.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Appearing alongside Gallagher on <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.skysports.com\/football\/live-blog\/11095\/13502599\/ref-watch-live-man-city-aston-villa-fulham-incidents-and-more-analysed-by-former-referee-dermot-gallagher-and-jamie-ohara\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">Sky\u2019s Ref Watch<\/a>, former <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/premier-league\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Premier League<\/a> midfielder Jamie O&#8217;Hara said: &#8220;It&#8217;s a mess. The referee is not looking at the shirt pull. The referee blows up for the tackle, not for the shirt pull. I&#8217;d love to see what the audio is saying.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;They decide it&#8217;s not a penalty, so then it should be a drop ball for Fulham, but they go back to try and get themselves out of jail.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Marco Silva fumed after Fulham's defeat at Manchester United\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0_Marco-Silva.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"Marco Silva fumed after Fulham's defeat at Manchester United\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Marco Silva fumed after Fulham&#8217;s defeat at Manchester United(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;The referee makes the decision on the tackle, not the shirt pull. The problem they&#8217;ve got is they go back and give the shirt pull, which is outside the area and then they score from the free-kick.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Speaking after the game at <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/all-about\/old-trafford\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_self\">Old Trafford<\/a>, Silva fumed: \u201cThe penalty was given \u2013 it was a bad, bad, bad decision from John Brooks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cThe penalty was given for the tackle of Cuenca, that was clear. Then after they found the pull three, four seconds before.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">FOLLOW OUR MAN UNITED FB PAGE!<a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ManUtdMEN#\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\"> Latest news and analysis via the MEN&#8217;s Manchester United Facebook page<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cThe ball went for a corner. The feedback we got on the touchline was that after the review John Brooks was going to go to the screen because in VAR\u2019s opinion it was not a penalty and that after that comes a completely different decision, they give a free-kick for a pull.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s the first time this season that a penalty has been given for one incident and then a VAR decision comes from a completely different incident and gave a free-kick. It\u2019s the first time we have seen that this season, last season, but maybe it comes more in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fulham boss Marco Silva was left furious by the VAR decision, which led to Manchester United\u2019s opening goal&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[4567,4566,1084,403,99],"class_list":["post-447289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-fulham-fc","tag-manchester-united-fc","tag-premier-league","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}