Wolves manager Gary O’Neil has revealed that he received an apology from PGMOL officer Jon Moss following his team’s disallowed “blatant penalty” against Manchester United.
In the final moments of Monday night’s Premier League match at Old Trafford, a frustrated O’Neil was cautioned by referee Simon Hooper for protesting against the inaction of VAR.
Just moments earlier, United’s goalkeeper Andre Onana leapt to clear a corner, but instead of punching the ball, he collided with Wolves’ forward Sasa Kalajdzic.
This collision caused Kalajdzic to fall to the ground, yet Hooper allowed the play to continue after judging that Onana had not committed a clear and evident foul.
Manchester United ultimately clinched a 1-0 victory in the match, despite Wolves managing to record 23 shots on goal – the highest number by an away team at Old Trafford since Chelsea in 2005.
I appreciate that they’re trying to stop referees getting abused but giving Gary O’Neil a yellow card for naturally reacting to not getting a blatant penalty is ridiculous.
He’s naturally emotional but he’s hardly hounded the official pic.twitter.com/K7RkaFXnuH
— ToonDeepDive (@ToonDeepDive) August 14, 2023
Without doubt the biggest talking point from Monday’s game was Onana’s clumsy challenge on Kalajdzic. In the Sky Sports studio, Gary Neville and Karen Carney agreed that it should have been a penalty.
Soon, Wolves boss Gary O’Neil voiced his opinion on the incident in his post-match interview.
“It looked like the goalkeeper tried to take the centre-forward’s head off is what it looked like live and when I watch it now it looks the same,” he told Sky Sports.
“I’m really surprised it’s not a foul. If you go for the ball and clatter the player that hard it has to be foul. I’m not surprised we didn’t get it. I thought he was coming to the screen but he came over to book me.
“I understand it, but I don’t accept it. I’ve spoken to them about last season. We can’t just leave it to the on field decision if they say no as it’s a hard call for them. I’ve had a lot of messages saying it is a stonewall penalty.”
O’Neil later revealed in his post-match press conference that Jon Moss had been in touch regarding the incident. Check out that moment below.
“I just spoke to Jon Moss. He apologised and said it was a blatant penalty.”
“He said he couldn’t believe the ref didn’t give it & VAR didn’t intervene.”#WWFC manager Gary O’Neil reacts to tonight’s VAR controversy in #MUNWOL pic.twitter.com/6X7UKSJP8k
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) August 14, 2023
The 40-year-old, who was appointed Wolves boss last week, said: “We have just spoken to Jonathan Moss and fair play to him for coming straight out and apologising and saying it was a blatant penalty and should have been given.
“I spent the afternoon with him today, gave up a lot of my day and preparation around trying to understand the new guidelines and trying not to get myself booked on my first game with the new guidelines which I failed in.
“Fair play to Jonathan for saying it was a clear and obvious error and he cannot believe that the on-field ref did not give it, cannot believe that VAR didn’t intervene.
“It probably made me feel worse actually because once you know you are right you feel worse about leaving with nothing.”
Thoughts on the incident?