Marc Skinner blames officiating in 1-0 loss to Chelsea – Man United News And Transfer News

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Marc Skinner is fuming as he believes Manchester United should have had two penalties against Chelsea on Sunday.

United were knocked off the top of the table by last year’s Champions after they lost 1-0.

Referee Cheryl Foster waved the Reds’ appeals away when Kadeisha Buchanan’s challenge brought Nikita Parris down in the area.

Later, United appealed again when an aerial coming together of Jess Carter and Ona Batlle saw the United player come off worse.

“It helps if you get the two decisions that should go for you,” Skinner said.

He continued, “They’re two big decisions. That’s the reality in big games. We’ve come here and we’ve had 63% possession, we’ve dominated the ball, we’ve moved Chelsea into only being able to counter attack really, and yet we’ve come away having got into the box twice and they’re two penalties. That’s the reality.”

Skinner strongly believes decisions like this are impacting where teams finish in the table.

“Two penalties in a game like this are massive. When I look over the balance of the last few games, you know, Chelsea get a goal that’s offside the other day (against Brighton), so these are decisions that will make and break where you finish in the table. And we say ‘it balances out’, well, I’m hopeful that we see it, but the reality is, in that game today, we should have had two penalties.”

Although Emma Hayes has advocated for VAR in women’s football, Skinner would just like to see some investment in the officials.

He highlighted a series of incidents including a trip on Caitlin Foord that went unpunished in the continental cup final.

He reeled about the challenges in Sunday’s game saying “They’re stonewall to me.

“We have to invest in the officials, we have to invest in the surrounding technology that can help. We’ve come to the champions’ home ground and put our stamp on it, you need those things to go for you.”

He continued, “You have to definitely address it within your team talk at half-time. You have to say ‘look its going against you, you have to dig deeper’, but we shouldn’t be put in that position. These are clear decisions for me.”

Skinner went on to insist they were obvious errors. “If they are not obvious we would swallow the medicine and get on with it. We have learnt about our resolve and resilience this season, we didn’t crumble. We shouldn’t have to address it, not in big games when we go onto this stage and these are big for what the league looks like in the next eight games. That’s huge decisions.”

United’s next game is against Lewes in the FA Cup before they return to Old Trafford in the league to face West Ham the following week.

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