Ex-refs chief drops Man United red card verdict after analysing incident vs Brighton
Anthony Taylor was right to only show Patrick Dorgu a yellow card when he took Yankuba Minteh down as the last man in Man United’s 4-2 win over Brighton.
That is according to former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee, Keith Hackett, who exclusively told Football Insider that the Man United defender did not deny a goalscoring opportunity and so rightly only received a booking.
Brighton were aiming to make Premier League history on Saturday (25 October) by winning four consecutive games at Old Trafford, but the Red Devils had other ideas.
Matheus Cunha opened the scoring early on as he bagged his first goal for the club, while Casemiro and Bryan Mbeumo also scored for United to make it 3-0 by the hour.
The visitors did fight back to score twice, but Mbeumo made sure of United’s win in added-time and the game ended 4-2 to Ruben Amorim‘s side.
Brighton will know they didn’t do enough across the 90 minutes to get anything out of the game, but did feel hard done by as Patrick Dorgu avoided being sent off twenty minutes from time.
Dorgu avoids red for last man tackle on Yankuba Minteh
Dorgu was involved in some controversy against Liverpool last week as Hackett told Football Insider that Michael Oliver should have booked him for a coming-together with Dominik Szoboszlai.
He was booked against Brighton as Anthony Taylor blew for a Brighton foul after Yankuba Minteh raced through on goal trying to grab one back for his side at 3-0 down.
The Seagulls forward tried to avoid contact from Dorgu and lost control of the ball as it trickled into Senne Lammens’ grasp, but while the United defender was deemed to have fouled him, he was not sent off.
The Premier League confirmed on X after the matter that Taylor’s call had been checked and cleared by VAR, and it was deemed not to be a denial of a goalscoring opportunity (DOGSO) “due to the position of Lammens and the likelihood of Minteh gaining control of the ball.”
Keith Hackett backs Taylor decision due to Minteh losing control
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the potential red card situation, the former referee said: The question is does it fulfil the DOGSO Law criteria…the following must be considered: distance between the offence and the goal, general direction of the play, likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball
location and number of defenders.
“There is clear doubt about the attacking players’ likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball.
“He (Minteh) had kicked it forward, and the side on view indication is that the goalkeeper is going to gain possession before he has a shot on goal.”