Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag claimed that “a lot is against us” when asked about the impact that refereeing and VAR decisions have had on his side to begin the season. The Red Devils sealed an important three points away to Burnley on Saturday evening, as the officials got involved once again at Turk Moor.
In the latest contentious incident, veteran defender Jonny Evans – who was drafted into the starting lineup after injuries to Raphael Varane, Lisandro Martinez, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw – thought that he had put the visitors into the lead after heading home from a corner.
However, it emerged through VAR that summer signing Rasmus Hojlund was in an offside position when he was adjudged to have interfered with Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford that saw the goal disallowed.
This came before Evans then spectacularly turned provider, clipping a ball through from the half-way line to Bruno Fernandes inside the box who met his stunning pass with an equally impressive volley that flew past Trafford to take all three points – but Ten Hag admitted that he was less than happy with his side’s recent fortunes.
“We have problems and in this moment a lot is against us: injuries, decisions and we have all seen the examples,” Ten Hag said after it emerged that VAR had intervened in each of United’s last four games which had been detrimental to the Red Devils, even though some of those decisions were not as contentious as others.
“This was a must-win and we knew that,” said the Dutchman, who had few complaints over the disallowed goal that prevented Evans from scoring his first goal for the club in over nine years. “The team responded on the pitch. You could see the togetherness in the dressing room. It was a squad performance.”
This has come after United’s Champions League 4-3 defeat away to Bayern Munich on Wednesday, where the hosts were awarded a penalty when Christian Eriksen was adjudged to have handballed in the box. This was despite the Dane attempting to put his hand out of the way before Dayot Upamecano’s header hit his arm.
While Hojlund was denied his first goal for the club in the previous game against Brighton, having thought he had equalised when Marcus Rashford pulled the ball back for the striker to finish – only for VAR to confirm that the ball had gone out of play before Rashford’s cross.
Ten Hag has clearly been frustrated with the decisions going against his side, but will be pleased that United got an important three points – their first since victory over Nottingham Forest nearly a month ago, despite Evans’ header being ruled out by VAR.
