MUTV pundit highlights “pretty poor” display during Man Utd vs Arsenal, it is an understatement

There were large question makes over the refereeing performance by Andy Madley during the FA Cup clash between Arsenal and Manchester United.

Manchester United clinched a thrilling FA Cup third-round victory over Arsenal on penalties at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Bruno Fernandes struck a superb opener early in the second half, but the momentum shifted when Diogo Dalot was sent off, allowing Arsenal to equalise soon after.

Arsenal were then awarded a controversial penalty when Kai Havertz went down under minimal contact from Harry Maguire, but Altay Bayindir made a vital save to keep United level.

Following a difficult 120 minutes, Bayindir saved Havertz’s spot-kick in the shootout, while all five United players converted, securing their progression to the next round.

MUTV pundit highlights Madley’s “poor” display for Arsenal vs United

Andy Madley almost stole the headlines during the FA Cup clash with one of the worst refereeing performances of the season.

Former United defender Phil Bardsley was asked about the referee on MUTV after the game and claimed that Madley had a “pretty poor” display, which is a slight understatement.

“There’s no question he dived, he’s conned the referee in plain sight and the referee fell for it,” began Bardsley when speaking about the Arsenal penalty.

“Harry Maguire has not made any contact with him at all, and that’s the difficulty now when the arguments we have about for and against VAR.

“If it was VAR today they would have seen that was obviously not a penalty at all, but obviously certain instances… the Bruno Fernandes one on the edge of the box where he’s stood on his heel, a clear chance for us to obviously get a goal.

“So, you know, I thought overall the referee was pretty poor, but not taking anywhere anything away from us, I thought we were fantastic.”

Premier League referees should not be allowed to officiate non-VAR games

There was no VAR in use during the third-round clashes and a lot of these Premier League referees looked out of their depth having to officiate a game on their own again.

Peter Banks had his own issues during Tottenham Hotspur’s win over non-league side Tamworth. These officials are too used to having the safety-net of VAR.

Read More: Rúben Amorim must be given “credit” for bold second-half choice vs Arsenal, says pundit

The same goes for the linesmen, whose roles are completely different when VAR is in use. It is perplexing why the FA would use these referees when there are a host of Championship officials who are playing without VAR every week.

Madley had a terrible game at the Emirates Stadium but it feels like a lot of these referees have adjusted their game to suit VAR and that can cause a lot of trouble for games when it isn’t there.

Make sure to follow UtdDistrict on X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok to never miss out on any of our Manchester United content. Our podcast, What the Devil?, is released every Wednesday at 6 pm (BST) on the United View YouTube channel.