DBasia.news – Manchester United’s first home win in the 2020-2021 Premier League was marked by a number of controversies. One of the club legends, Rio Ferdinand, said that the Red Devils received assistance from the referee in the match.
In a match that took place at Old Trafford on Sunday (22/11), Manchester United won 1-0. Bruno Fernandes made the difference with his single goal from the penalty spot in the 56th minute.
But the spotlight is instead on the performance of the court, David Coote. He is considered to have made a number of controversial decisions that spark debate.
One of his controversial decisions was when he annulled a penalty for West Brom at the start of the second half. Even though he firmly pointed to the spot after Conor Gallagher was violated by Fernandes in the forbidden box.
Unfortunately, Coote changed his decision after checking the incident through VAR. This was what Ferdinand later considered a mistake.
“It was a shameful decision. He did it right the first time because the penalty was the right decision,” Ferdinand told BT Sport.
“How can he go against his own decision about that? The match has been stolen from West Brom, that’s very clear.”
For Ferdinand, Coote should not change the decision he made firmly. This can actually damage his credibility as a court man.
The former referee, Peter Walton, shared a similar view. He asked the courts not to always depend on VAR.
“In my opinion, VAR should not be involved. By asking the referee to go to the side of the field monitor, they concluded that he made a mistake,” said Walton.
Coote’s performance came under scrutiny after awarding a penalty for Manchester United shortly thereafter. West Brom defender, Darnell Furlong is considered to have done handball in the forbidden box when blocking Juan Mata’s pass.
Not only that, Coote also repeated Fernandes’ penalty execution which Sam Johnstone could read. The goalkeeper is deemed to have moved first before the kick is taken.
This is not the first time Coote’s name has been highlighted. His performance was also criticized when he played as a VAR officer at Everton’s match against Liverpool last month. At that time, he ignored Jordan Pickford’s horror tackle on Virgil van Dijk which left the Dutch defender in danger of being out of action until the end of the season. After the incident, he was released for a week.