Bruno Fernandes scored from the spot to make it 1-1 after Paul Pogba had been fouled by Eric Dier
Saturday 20 June 2020 11:58, UK
Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho was unhappy with VAR for allowing Man United's equalising penalty kick to stand when Paul Pogba was fouled by Eric Dier - and for not booking Bruno Fernandes for simulation when the video assistant overturned a second.
Mourinho's Spurs looked on course for a vital victory over his former side in the race for a Champions League qualifying spot thanks to Steven Bergwijn's first-half strike.
But sub Pogba skipped past Dier and into the Spurs penalty area before being knocked to the ground with just 10 minutes remaining.
Referee Jon Moss instantly pointed to the spot and VAR allowed the decision to stand, with Bruno Fernandes firing home to make it 1-1 - a result which deals a blow to Tottenham's hopes of reaching the top five.
Moss awarded another injury-time spot-kick to the visitors after ruling Dier had tripped Fernandes in the box, but Mourinho felt VAR should have gone further than overturning the decision and additionally issued a yellow card to the midfielder.
"I'm not happy with the penalty and I'm also not happy with the second penalty," he told Sky Sports. "I'm unhappy with the VAR. The referee can make a mistake and give a cheap penalty. But then the VAR is there to do a job.
"In the second penalty, l am unhappy with Moss because he didn't give the free-kick on Serge [in the build-up to the penalty award]. Then he gave a cheap penalty, a non-penalty, and in this case the VAR gave the truth."
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Mourinho expanded on his frustration with the decisions and explained his pre-match thinking against United, who have been given 23 penalties since the start of last season - nine more than any other Premier League side.
He said: "We know that Manchester United have an incredible record this season of penalties given, so we knew that everything in the box was very dangerous for us. We had to be very, very cautious, every shot to block, we knew and were prepared to do it with hands behind the body, we knew it could happen.
"The second penalty is incredible for me. It's a situation in the box where I feel when the VAR goes for a simulation, the player should immediately be exposed and get a yellow card, but that didn't happen.
"So I feel really upset with these two decisions, but that's the way it is."
Mourinho was more satisfied with the performance of his team, whose winless record was extended to a sixth consecutive game, but who produced some moments of quality with a number of first-team regulars returning from injury after the three-month enforced break.
"What did I like? I like the team attitude, the team organisation, the control, following a plan, being very solid, giving to United what they don't like and really happy with that," he told Sky Sports.
"I was unhappy with the fact that, the way I was reading the game, I had no bench to react to it. With Lucas and Dele, they would be on the bench or they would be playing, then I would have on the bench some of our attacking players.
"When they become more dominant because we were quite tired up front, by being tired we couldn't press, it was easier for them to build and at the same time we couldn't be dangerous on the counter attack because we had no legs for that. So it was hard to manage the game in that sense."
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer declared himself more satisfied with his side's performance than the result after United's strong finish to the game, with a resurgent Pogba's arrival providing a significant influence in their second-half improvement, and the Frenchman finally able to link up with January signing Bruno Fernandes for the first time.
"Today Paul showed he could play with Bruno and Bruno again got a penalty and scored a goal," he told Sky Sports.
"He's delighted to be back on the pitch. He's had a nine-to-10-month injury nightmare. It's not been like you're out for 10 months, it's been I'm almost back, work hard, work hard and then get back, get injured again and have an operation.
"He was close to coming back before the lockdown and now finally he's back playing and I'm sure everyone can see he's got great hunger for the game and he's a very, very good footballer.
"I'm a bit disappointed we don't come away with three points. It's strange football because last year we went to Wembley to play against Tottenham and they absolutely battered us for the last 40 minutes, half an hour and we got away with a win. Today it is quite the opposite."
Sky Sports pundit and ex-United captain Roy Keane lambasted David De Gea's mistake for Bergwijn's opener in the Friday Night Football studio, but Solskjaer laughed off any criticism of his goalkeeper, who has made seven mistakes leading to goals since the start of last season, the most of any Premier League goalkeeper in that time.
"I'm disappointed that they scored the first time they had a chance, but the boy hit it really well, the ball moves," he said in his post-match press conference. "Roy was a fantastic midfielder, he's a good friend of mine, I'm not sure he would have stopped it either but that's not the point.
"David is a bit disappointed with it, obviously, but if you see the ball, it was moving through the air, but we reacted well, and he made a good save a few minutes after.
"We had a bad spell then for 10 minutes and they looked like they could get the second, so when David saved that one we were at least in the game at half-time."
Sky Sports will show 64 live Premier League games when the season resumes. In addition to the 39 matches already scheduled to be broadcast exclusively live on Sky Sports before the coronavirus interruption, 25 more matches will be available on both Sky Sports Premier League and Sky's free-to-air Pick channel, allowing the whole nation to be part of the return of live sport.
