Michael Carrick staggered by Erling Haaland’s Man City winner and Gary Neville lost over Man Utd call | OneFootball

Michael Carrick says the explanation for Manchester City’s winning goal against Manchester United “was staggering” in the wake of his side’s 1-0 defeat.

Man Utd looked well placed to beat Enzo Maresca’s team at Old Trafford on Sunday when Phil Foden was sent off in the 23rd minute for kicking out at Bruno Fernandes.

But the Red Devils didn’t create enough clear-cut chances, and Erling Haaland capitalised on the hour mark with a back-post finish from Josko Gvardiol’s deflected cross.

There was a huge amount of debate over whether or not Man City‘s goal should have stood, as many argued that Haaland was in an offside position, as was Enzo Fernandez.

Gary Neville was one such confused individual, with the Manchester United legend completely baffled by the decision to let the goal stand.

On Sky Sports, Neville said, “I need the offside law explaining to me, that has lost me I have to say. It will need an official to explain to us why he’s not offside.”

His former Man Utd teammate Wayne Rooney was equally at a loss by the call.

Rooney said on BBC’s Match of the Day, “Surely it’s offside. Martinez is impacted by Enzo’s movement, and he is offside.”

Shortly after the decision was made, The Premier League Match Centre took to X to explain the reasoning behind Haaland’s goal.

They tweeted, “VAR checked the referee’s call of no goal for offside – and determined that Haaland was in an onside position and recommended that the goal was awarded. The VAR also deemed that while in an offside position, Fernandez didn’t play the ball.”

Incidentally, former Tottenham Hotspur and Leeds United goalkeeper Paul Robinson suggested that the goal was allowed to stand as Gvardiol’s cross took a nick off Patrick Dorgu.

He said on BBC Radio 5 Live, “There was a deflection off Patrick Dorgu as Josko Gvardiol plays the ball and it bobbles up.

“It ends up with Erling Haaland at the far post and there was only going to be one outcome but it’s the deflection off the Manchester United left-back which is all important.”

Michael Carrick fumes over Erling Haaland goal

After the match, Man Utd boss Carrick could not hold back his dismay at how the officials refereed the game and how the Haaland goal was allowed to stand.

The former Man Utd midfielder said this is a “worrying” precedent for football, while also admitting that his side weren’t good enough on the day. Indeed, their Expected Goals tally of 0.96 was just behind Man City’s 0.99, despite having a man advantage.

He told Sky Sports, “I’m confused. We put things in place in the game now. We have people in offices with all the screens for this decision. It’s more worrying about if that’s the interpretation of football now. If that’s the interpretation of not interfering in the game now, that’s really worrying for me. It’s a staggering explanation.

“The decision isn’t going to change the season, but it’s had a major impact on the game. That decision wasn’t on us today. It’s up to us to create and score after that. We had moments. Of course it’s up to us to do that, but big moments in games like that have a big impact.

“We did a lot of things well, it looked like we were growing well into the game. We looked dangerous. We’ll take the positives from the game today and move on well, but we’re not moving on lightly.

“We could have created more. That’s an answer for us, but we could have. That’s our second defeat now, since I’ve been in charge, but we’re a good team and we’ll get back to wining ways.”

Man City remain second with 12 points from their opening four games, while Man Utd are 13th with four points.