‘Nonsense’ – PGMOL expert slams Michael Oliver over ‘dodgy’ game-defining Aston Villa vs Man City incident
Matty Cash should not have been able to score his winner as Aston Villa secured an unlikely win over Man City at Villa Park.
That is according to former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee, Keith Hackett, who exclusively told Football Insider that Matheus Nunes was “absolutely right” to fume with the decision to award a corner against the Citizens.
Man City have not been ruled out of the Premier League title race, according to Matt Le Tissier, despite falling six points behind leaders Arsenal, but the club have every right to be furious after their away game on Sunday, 26 October.
In the 19th minute, Cash, who recently signed a new deal, unleashed an effort from outside the box to take the lead. However, with the initial corner being wrongly given, City lost due to a wrong decision.
Matheus Nunes was right to fume over controversial Man City decision
Before the goal, Nunes battled away with Lucas Digne, with the makeshift right-back furious that a foul had not been awarded, and replays show a clear connection on the Portuguese star.
Gianluigi Donnarumma has been on fire for Man City, but not even he could get in the way as Villa opened the scoring, which turned out to be the only goal of the game at Villa Park.
The likes of Erling Haaland, Savinho, and Phil Foden all had chances to get City back in the game, but Emi Martinez clearly had other ideas as the Villans rose to eighth in the table with the victory.
However, re-analysing the footage before Villa’s corner, Hackett feels that Michael Oliver should have been in a better position to award a free-kick rather than giving the decision in the home side’s favour.
Michael Oliver was out of position to award Man City free-kick
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former referee said: “The player is absolutely right – he’s been fouled, so it should have been a free-kick. The referee is exposed because he’s not in a great position, and VAR can’t come in.
“Isn’t it a nonsense? However fit and mobile you are as a referee, you are going to be exposed from not having the ideal view. Television gives you that.
“There’s a word I normally use privately, don’t use it publicly so much, but referees discuss that as ‘safe refereeing’. The safe refereeing aspect here is that you don’t want a dodgy decision that ends in a goal.
“This is a typical situation where common sense isn’t used. It is a foul; it’s been missed by the referee because he’s caught out of position. It results in a goal, but it’s been dismissed.”