Wayne Rooney 'so sick' of what he saw in Man United defeat to Man City - 'it's horrendous'

Wayne Rooney was left appalled after Erling Haaland's winning goal was allowed to stand in the Manchester derby on Sunday.

Manchester City beat Manchester United 1-0 at Old Trafford, despite playing with 10 men for over 70 minutes after Phil Foden was sent off.

Haaland finished well from Josko Gvardiol's deflected cross midway through the second half but was initially adjudged to have been offside.

VAR, Matt Donohue, checked the decision and eventually gave the goal after several minutes, but failed to recognise that the offside Enzo Fernandez had undoubtedly impacted play.

Man United would later receive an apology from Pro Ref, formerly PGMOL, admitting that officials made a key error.

Sunday's incident was the second major refereeing controversy in less than 24 hours, after VAR failed to spot Dan Ballard's grip on Ezri Konsa's arm and overturn Sunderland's penalty in Saturday's clash with Arsenal.

Wayne Rooney 'sick of VAR'

While there was a conversation about Bruno Fernandes' part in Foden's early red card, there was little debate about the reaction that saw Man City reduced to 10.

The midfielder had kicked upwards towards the stomach of the Man United captain, and could have few complaints.

Yet Michael Carrick's team struggled to use their man advantage, failing to break behind the Man City backline and often off the mark with balls into the box.

Both Marcus Rashford and Kobbie Mainoo hit the post with shots from range, but it was Man City who would take the lead through Haaland.

VAR's checks centred around the striker, and any check on Fernandez appeared to be entirely on whether he had touched the ball, despite clearly jumping towards it and affecting Lisandro Martinez's positioning.

"I'm just so sick of this VAR, I think it's horrendous," Rooney told BBC Match of the Day on Sunday. "It takes all the emotion out of the game, the energy which the game's played with.

"To see that and not recognise that Enzo Fernandez is in an offside position - anyone who's played the game at any level understands that and knows that he's in an offside position so to get it so wrong, it's just baffling."

Will serious discussions lead to action?

Premier League fans will be well aware that, unfortunately, discussions like the one prompted by Sunday's actions are not new.

The competency of the referees has been a constant point of debate, with the introduction of VAR only increasing the intensity.

Yet action has been extremely rare, with apologies from Pro Ref usually the extent of its willingness to respond to the reaction.

Until material action is taken to improve the state of officiating in the Premier League, such debate will only rumble on.