Wolves denied ‘blatant penalty’ against Manchester United admits referee chief

Premier League referees’ boss Jon Moss apologised to Gary O’Neil and told him Wolves had been denied a “blatant” stoppage-time penalty in their 1-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford, according to the Wolves boss.

United’s debutant goalkeeper Andre Onana clattered into Sasa Kalajdzic deep into time added on, but Simon Hooper did not react and VAR Michael Salisbury deemed there was no foul, with an incredulous O’Neil instead booked for his reaction.

O’Neil said after the match he thought Onana was trying to take Kalajdzic’s head off, and then revealed he had received an immediate apology from Moss.

“Having just spoken to Jon Moss, fair enough he came straight out and said it was a blatant penalty and it should have been given,” O’Neil said.

“I sometimes feel bad. I’ve spent a lot of my day with him trying to understand the new guidelines and how to not get myself booked which I’ve failed in, but fair play to Jon in coming out.

“He said it was clear and obvious and he can’t believe the on-field referee didn’t give it and he can’t believe VAR didn’t intervene. It’s probably made me feel worse to be honest because once you know you’re right you feel worse about leaving with nothing.”

United boss Erik ten Hag tried to play down the incident, but he was largely alone in thinking the officials got the decision right.

“When VAR looked at it and decided not to give it of course we are pleased,” the Dutchman said. “It’s about the referee and the VAR. I think the two players come together and Andre didn’t interfere with the action from them because first was the touch on the ball and then came Andre.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Onana himself was also adamant that the correct decision had been made.

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Asked if it was a penalty, the Cameroon shot-stopper said: “No, goalkeepers make decisions, sometimes you are right, sometimes you are not.

“I made a decision and I am responsible for everything. For me, it was contact between two big guys and nothing happened. But for us, the most important thing was to win and I am happy for the victory.

“Of course I was confident (it would not be given).”

The controversial decision was not the only thing that left the impression United had been lucky to take three points from their opening Premier League match, with Raphael Varane’s 76th-minute header decisive in a laboured performance from the hosts.

With O’Neil only a few days into his tenure, Wolves impressed with their attacking intent. They registered 23 attempts at goal, the most for any visiting team at Old Trafford since Chelsea had 25 in November 2005, another match that ended in a 1-0 win for United.

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Scoring goals was an all-too-familiar problem for Wolves last term but O’Neil was encouraged by what he saw.

“Huge credit to the lads,” O’Neil said. “There’s been some negativity surrounding the place but they’ve committed to what we asked of them and gone toe to toe with a top side at a difficult place to come and they’re disappointed.

“For the amount of shots we’ve had and the expected goals, we deserved at least a point…

“Bigger picture stuff and where we want to take the group, tonight is a big step four days in. Coming to a place like this it could have gone very differently.”