Howard Webb Addresses Major VAR Mistake in Manchester Derby

Howard Webb has admitted VAR made a major mistake in Sunday’s Manchester derby – and never even checked whether Enzo Fernandez was offside before Erling Haaland’s controversial winner was allowed to stand.

The head of the Premier League’s referees, speaking on the first ‘Match Officials Mic’d Up’ of the season, said he was “really disappointed” with the error by VAR Matt Donohue and assistant Blake Antrobus, and confirmed the pair will not officiate again until after the international break.

A derby decided by a missed offence

At Old Trafford, Haaland thought he had finally cracked a tight game on the hour mark, steering in at the back post. The on-field officials initially ruled the goal out for offside.

VAR stepped in. The semi-automated offside technology showed Haaland was onside by three centimetres from Josko Gvardiol’s cross. After review, the goal was given.

Then the real problem emerged.

Replays made it obvious the VAR team had failed to consider an offside offence by Fernandez, who was in a central position, diving towards the ball and clearly affecting how defenders reacted. Manchester United’s Lisandro Martinez initially tracked Haaland, but when Fernandez attacked the cross, Martinez shifted across to deal with him, leaving Haaland free at the back post.

The incident left players, pundits and supporters incredulous.

Wayne Rooney, speaking on Match of the Day, called it out in blunt terms: “To not see that and recognise that Enzo Fernandez was in an offside position... anyone who has played the game at any level understands that and to get it so wrong is baffling.”

‘Tunnel vision’ on Haaland

The audio from ‘Mic’d Up’ laid bare how the decision unravelled. At no stage did Donohue or Antrobus discuss whether Fernandez himself was offside or interfering with opponents. Their focus locked entirely on Haaland.

“The VAR gets super-focused on Haaland,” Webb explained. The technology told the officials the striker was onside. From there, their check narrowed.

Once Haaland’s position was cleared, the VAR team only looked to see whether Fernandez touched the ball, which would have created a new phase and a potential offside against Haaland. Because they could not see a touch, they treated the goal as clean.

“He establishes he’s onside, he thinks that’s a good goal,” Webb said. “He doesn’t truly evaluate the full impact of Fernandez’s position. He has a look to see if he touches the ball, because then that relates to potentially knocking it to Haaland, who goes on to score.

“In that moment, he gets tunnel vision. It’s down to the rest of his team to pull him out of that tunnel, and unfortunately, that didn’t happen on this occasion.”

The result, Webb admitted, was a “really clear subjective offside” offence going completely unpunished. Fernandez did not touch the ball, but his position and movement clearly impacted the play and United’s defending.

Officials stood down, questions remain

Webb said he had already contacted Manchester United to share the VAR audio and video, and did not hide from the scale of the mistake.

“I was really disappointed with this outcome. We all are,” he said. “None more so than the officials themselves. They take a lot of personal pride in what they do and they’re obviously hurting now, having fallen short in this situation.

“This goal should’ve been disallowed. And highly unfortunately, it wasn’t, and we’ll review it, reflect upon it, and try to take the learning forward to prevent this unusual type of error from happening again.”

For Donohue and Antrobus, that means a spell out of the spotlight. For the league, it means another bruising week in the debate over VAR’s credibility.

And for everyone inside Old Trafford who watched the game tilt on a decision that should have gone the other way, it leaves a sharper question: how many more of these “unusual” errors can the system survive?