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Nottingham Forest midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White has reacted angrily on social media to the VAR decision which confirmed Manchester United’s winning goal in the fifth round of the FA Cup last night.
A closely-contested match at the City Ground stadium, which was short on quality to put it mildly, was eventually decided by Casemiro’s late header, sending United through to the quarter finals.
Ahead of the game, the draw for the next round of the cup was made. Erik ten Hag’s side were drawn against either Liverpool or Southampton, who faced off at almost the exact same time as United and Forest. Liverpool ultimately triumphed over the Championship side, setting up a mouth-watering prospect between the two bitter rivals in the quarter final.
United struggled at times last night, particularly in the first half. Long-term injuries to Luke Shaw and Lisandro Martinez, as well as a less serious one for Rasmus Hojlund, has deprived Ten Hag of three of his most trusted players.
In the first game since all three were ruled out, the Dutchman watched his side produce an abject display against Fulham on Saturday, eventually falling to a 2-1 defeat in a key loss in the race for Champions League qualification.
Ten Hag would have been forgiven for harbouring concerns at half-time yesterday that United were on track for a similar result, given the poor display in the first forty-five minutes at the City Ground. After their manager’s team talk, however, United were able to rally, producing a much more controlled performance and largely restricting Forest to their own half.
United were then awarded a free kick in the final few minutes of the game, from the left-hand side of the pitch, which Bruno Fernandes stepped up to take it. The midfielder cleverly found Casemiro with a low cross, enabling the Brazilian to head past Matt Turner in the Forest goal to clinch victory at the death.
The passion Casemiro celebrated his winner with reveals a player who is still fully committed to his club, despite recent reports linking the midfielder with a move away from Old Trafford this summer. However, the incompetent hand of VAR once again threatened to overrule a United goal this season, with the dreaded message of ‘VAR Check Ongoing’ announced over City Ground tannoy system as the Brazilian looked around nervously.
The officiating team poured over two potential offsides in the build up to Fernandes’ free-kick; the first being whether Raphael Varane was interfering with play (he wasn’t); and the second of whether Casemiro was offside (he wasn’t). Both calls were immediately obvious to anyone with functioning eyes, yet the VAR team took nearly five minutes to reach that decision.
And, bizarrely, it was a decision Gibbs-White took ire with after the game, posting a screenshot of a similar situation in the recent Carabao Cup final between Chelsea and Liverpool on Instagram to further his case (as pictured below).
📲 Morgan Gibbs-White crying via Instagram! 😂 pic.twitter.com/OHFM6Ilh6A
— UtdTruthful (@Utdtruthful) February 28, 2024
Virgil van Dijk’s header was ruled out at Wembley on Sunday after it was judged Wataru Endo had blocked Levi Colwill from an offside positon, when the Chelsea defender may have been able to prevent the Dutch centre-back from scoring. It was the correct decision.
Part of the VAR team’s check last night was whether Varane was guilty of the same obstruction as Endo. They decided he was not, as the Frenchman was never in a position which would have impacted Forest’s ability to defend either Fernandes’ free-kick or Casemiro’s header. It was also the correct decision.
In short, Gibbs-White would be better served spending time reflecting on his own performance (or lack thereof) last night, rather than a rare moment of competency (eventually) by VAR officials.
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