Howard Webb admits massive referee error in Man Utd's defeat by Brentford

Referees’ chief Howard Webb has reportedly admitted to Manchester United that they were the victims of a big mistake in their defeat by Brentford last weekend. United lost 3-1 in west London in a result which piled pressure onto Ruben Amorim, but the club felt hard done by.

Bruno Fernandes saw his penalty saved by Caoimhin Kelleher after Nathan Collins' foul on Bryan Mbeumo offered them a route back into the game. Collins was bailed out by his goalkeeper and got lucky twice as he escaped a red card for pulling back the United forward inside the box.

Referee Craig Pawson opted against the dismissal and his decision was upheld by VAR, with a statement released to explain the reasoning. “The referee’s call of penalty was checked and confirmed by VAR – with Collins deemed to have pulled Mbeumo back,” it read. “VAR also checked the referee’s call of yellow card to Collins – and deemed that Mbeumo wasn’t in control of the ball.”

That decision was questioned by many and had an obvious impact on the game, with Brentford keeping 11 players on the pitch and going on to score again. United felt aggrieved and The Daily Mail says that they wrote to the Professional Game Match Officials for an explanation.

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United chief executive Omar Berrada and technical director Jason Wilcox got a response from PGMO chief Webb, who accepted that Pawson and the VAR had made a mistake and Collins should have seen red. It is not the first time that Webb has conceded a high-profile error this season and ex-Premier League referee Mark Halsey was stunned at this one.

Halsey told the Sun: “The statement from the Match Centre said that Mbeumo did not have control of the ball. It doesn’t say in law about having the ball under control.

"It’s about the likelihood of keeping control of the ball. “In my opinion, the Match Centre statement was absolute nonsense and it was a clear, clear denial of a goalscoring opportunity.”

Webb also came out this week to defend the decision to overturn Arsenal’s penalty against Newcastle when Viktor Gyokeres clashed with Nick Pope. “The VAR checks the penalty,” Webb explained on Premier League's Match Officials Mic'd Up show.

"When he does that, he clearly sees that Gyokeres gets to the ball, pokes it a little bit forward but then, importantly, Nick Pope also gets a very clear touch on the ball as he steps forward with that right foot and deviates the direction that the ball is going in. That hadn't been appreciated on the field by the referee.”

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