Rather disappointingly, the most to come out of the game between Manchester United and Chelsea was the supposed handling of the ball by Chelsea’s Callum Hudson-Odoi, which was not given as a penalty in favour of the visitors.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s post-match comments were rather sharp and were on the verge of being picked up by the FA for disciplinary action.
“They probably thought his [Hudson-Odoi’s] hand was in a very natural position when he flicked the ball,” Solskjaer said.
“It’s gone now. We should have had a penalty and that’s clear. I’m a bit concerned that we don’t get those penalties after what noises were made a month or two ago about us getting penalties. So clearly there is a point of managers influencing the referees which they shouldn’t do.
“That’s just the nature of us as managers isn’t it, that anything that goes against you, you probably want to highlight. If something goes for other teams, you’d like to try to stop that probably. But I trust the referees not to be influenced by it.
“I was very surprised by the decision today when I looked at the video. Live, I didn’t think it was a penalty so I can understand why he didn’t give it straight away but when you look at the video, it is not a very natural position to have your hand in.”
Luke Shaw later commented that the referee for the game had, in fact been told that it was a penalty, but he didn’t give the decision because of the talk it would create afterwards.
“I don’t know. At the time I saw a handball. I didn’t know if it was Mason Greenwood or Callum Hudson-Odoi. I just carried on. I didn’t even know there was a VAR check. I don’t know why they stopped it. If it was a penalty… but if they didn’t think it was a penalty I don’t know why they needed to stop,” Shaw told Sky Sports after the game.
“The referee even said to [Harry Maguire], I heard him say: ‘If I say it’s a penalty then it’s going to cause a lot of talk about it afterwards.’ So I don’t know what happened there.
The FA has reviewed the comments made by Shaw and Solskjaer, and have decided that no disciplinary action is needed.
