Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay was lucky not to be sent off against Leicester City yesterday.
That’s the view of former Premier League referee Mark Halsey, who told CaughtOffside that he felt McTominay’s challenge on James Maddison was dangerous.
Halsey was surprised to see McTominay stay on the pitch for a nasty tackle like that, despite Maddison later seeing a goal chalked off by VAR for a much less serious foul on Raphael Varane in the build-up.
“In the Man United-Leicester game, I think Scott McTominay was very lucky not to receive a red card from Andre Mariner for a dangerous challenge that endangered his opponent,” Halsey said.
“He used excessive force, and when you look at that incident, he’s lost control of the ball and throws himself in. It’s serious foul play that endangered a player’s safety and I’m surprised Mariner didn’t dish out a stronger punishment. United took McTominay off shortly after that, so that suggests they maybe thought he was close to a red card.”
McTominay using his knees to control the ball lol https://t.co/QKIWvLPkZt pic.twitter.com/Bs8w9HCPjx
— SOSO (@javiersoso_1) April 3, 2022
Change his name to Xhaka and it's two straight red cards. pic.twitter.com/jjV1tLevpV
— The Arsenalite (@afccantrel) April 2, 2022
Pictures courtesy of Sky Sports
Halsey added: “If you look at the disallowed goal, was that foul on Varane a clear and obvious error? I’m surprised they reviewed that but not the McTominay challenge.
“It does look on review like there was a foul, but was it such a clear and obvious error? It’s subjective, and in my opinion VAR should not have got involved there, Varane made the most of it.
“I can understand fans, players and managers being frustrated with the inconsistency with what gets reviewed. McTominay was very lucky and I don’t know why Michael Oliver didn’t recommend a review.”