Let us take a closer look at the four decisions to analyse whether Rangnick was right about these incidents:
Follow Us
Arsenal and Manchester United played out an entertaining clash at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday which saw the home side win 3-1. The Premier League game had everything – goals, offside goals, penalties, and penalty miss among other things. The match had its controversies in an action-packed 90 minutes, which all but surely ended United’s bid for a top-four spot. Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick felt some of those decisions went against his team on Saturday. He was not happy with Cedric Soares’ handball, Anthony Elanga’s penalty appeal, Cristiano Ronaldo’s disallowed goal and a possible offside for Arsenal’s third goal.
Let us take a closer look at the four decisions to analyse whether Rangnick was right about these incidents:
After the poor start made by United, Jadon Sancho started to find more room on the left flank. He began to grow in confidence with every passing minute and was starting to be a real threat on the left flank. When he was involved in one such positive run on United’s left, he came face-to-face with Cedric Soares.
The Portuguese full-back was not able to stay on his feet, as he lost balance and fell to the ground when he appeared to have handled the ball. The incident appeared to be at the edge of the penalty box. Sancho raised his hand, appealing for a foul, but referee Craig Pawson was not interested and neither was VAR. “There was another handball issue in first half, where Jadon Sancho was involved,” Rangnick said in his post-match press conference, as per their club’s website.
READ MORE – Arsenal vs Man United: Talking points from the Gunners’ 3-1 win
Ronaldo reduced the deficit in the first half for Manchester United with a well-taken instinctive strike to make it 2-1. For a moment in the second half, it appeared as though the Portuguese forward scored again to level the scores. However, the linesman raised his flag by calling it offside. VAR did have a look at the decision, which appeared extremely tight in slow motion.
Ben White’s foot almost played Cristiano Ronaldo onside, however, the offside decision stood. Rangnick though was convinced he was onside. “The second goal of Cristiano was not offside. You can see it in that total perspective. They were exactly in one line,” the interim manager said.
Manchester United were clearly the better team in the second half, however, they were not able to convert their chances. Bruno Fernandes missed a penalty and Ronaldo’s goal was ruled offside among other chances. Against the run of play, Granit Xhaka scored a screamer from 25 yards to seal the match. However, Rangnick claimed that Eddie Nketiah, who was standing in an offside position, was blocking David de Gea’s view.
“Their third goal was clearly offside, I spoke to David De Gea after the game, and he couldn’t see the ball. Nketiah was between Xhaka and himself. They checked it but for whatever reasons they still gave the goal,” Rangnick explained.
READ MORE – Cristiano Ronaldo’s 100th Premier League goal goes in vain as the Gunners win 3-1
In the first half, Elanga’s brilliant burst of pace in the right flank saw him get on the wrong side of Arsenal’s left-back Nuno Tavares. When they both got tight, Elanga went down but the referee did not entertain any appeals from the United players. VAR also stayed the on-field referee’s decision.
“What was the third one? Anthony Elanga? Arm in arm, the other player with him [Tavares]. For me, that was questionable but the other three situations are clear. This is why we have VAR and should expect VAR plus referee should check the situations and they should at least take the right decision,” Rangnick concluded.
Manchester City vs Liverpool: Talking points from the action-packed draw
