Michael Carrick says the apology from referees’ bosses for the VAR blunder over Erling Haaland’s goal in the Manchester derby ‘doesn’t mean an awful lot’.
Howard Webb, the head of Pro Ref, admitted the error after Haaland’s winner for Manchester City at Old Trafford last weekend was allowed to stand, even though his teammate Enzo Fernandez was in an offside position and clearly interfering with play.
Webb has blamed ‘tunnel vision’ for the mistake and stood down VAR officials Matt Donohue and Blake Antrobus until after the international break.
Carrick insists he still has faith in the system, but believes the best Manchester United can hope for now is that the marginal decisions will even themselves out over the course of the season.
‘Listen, one-off things can happen,’ he said as United prepare to return to Premier League action at Fulham on Sunday. ‘At the time it was a pretty big one, we know that. I don’t think I need to go over that.
‘Yes, I’ve got faith in it, of course. It’s the system that we work towards and that we use, so the apology doesn’t mean an awful lot.
Michael Carrick says Howard Webb’s apology over Erling Haaland’s goal ‘doesn’t mean a lot’
Enzo Fernandez was allowed to interfere with play before the goal in a huge VAR blunder
Webb has blamed ‘tunnel vision’ for the mistake and temporarily stood down the VAR officials
‘I can appreciate it and I respect them for putting their hands up and saying “we got that wrong”. It happens.
‘Moving forward, we just have to deal with what’s thrown in front of us. Maybe we get one or two decisions on the back of how it balances out; percentages or law of averages or whatever that may be.’
Carrick has urged his players to put the controversy behind them and focus on recovering from a poor start to the season after losing half of their six games in all competitions.
‘That was a pretty big one to take and had a huge impact on that game, and that’s why it was particularly tough,’ he added.
‘It can have an impact in that moment of time – it can have a big impact – but we can’t let it have an impact on the rest of the season. That’s for us to get back to winning ways as soon as possible.’