Solskjaer loses cool with Man Utd denial; Shaw reveals bizarre referee talk

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Man Utd boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer declared he “must be blind” to think his side shouldn’t have had a penalty, while Luke Shaw revealed the details of a bizarre conversation he overheard the referee having with Harry Maguire.

Man Utd failed to defeat a ‘top six’ side in the league for the seventh successive time this season.

The Red Devils believed they should’ve been awarded a first-half penalty after what appeared to be a handball from Callum Hudson-Odoi.

A brief VAR check went against the visitors, however, with the remainder of the match playing out with neither side creating much in the way of clear-cut chances.

FULL MATCH REPORT: Handball controversy proves pivotal as Chelsea, Man Utd share spoils

Speaking to the BBC after the match, Solskjaer said: “It was a penalty, 100% nailed on. If that’s a natural position for a hand to be in when the ball comes in then I must be blind.

“We wanted to win. Apart from the last quality or pass being not good enough… we had great pressing, desire, work-rate… There was a great save by David de Gea and we got the clean sheet.

“That’s what let us down, that quality on the ball. The first half was scrappy. Poor game really. But then we played some good stuff at times. When we settled we created a few chances but we didn’t have enough.

“It was a good block by Luke Shaw. That’s what you do when there is a goal to be saved, you put your body on the line. I thought we were excellent defensively.”

 

Shaw savages “confusing” VAR

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Man Utd defender Luke Shaw also spoke to the press, telling Sky Sports: “It was quite an evenly matched game. There weren’t too many chances. We were both quite safe. We defended well, but I don’t think we created too many chances. We’re a bit disappointed with that.

“The gap [to Manchester City] is getting bigger so we needed to win. We need to keep pushing and move on. We’ve got a point against a very good team. They defend well so we have to look at it like that.”

Regarding the first-half penalty call, Shaw added: “I don’t know. At the time I saw a handball. I didn’t know if it was Mason Greenwood or Callum Hudson-Odoi. I just carried on. I didn’t even know there was a VAR check. I don’t know why they stopped it. If it was a penalty… but if they didn’t think it was a penalty I don’t know why they needed to stop.

“The referee even said to [Harry Maguire], I heard him say, ‘if I say it’s a penalty then it’s going to cause a lot of talk about it afterwards.’ So I don’t know what happened there.

“[Maguire] said they got told it was a penalty. They got told it was a penalty by VAR so… I’m not sure. I don’t understand. If he’s going to stop then you think he is going to give a penalty. We had the ball, we were attacking so it’s confusing with this VAR.

“If it’s not going to be a penalty they might as well just carry on the game and not stop the flow of the game. It was another one, that look, I’m not going to moan about it because I don’t think either team did enough to win.”