Manchester derby VAR error: Webb blames tunnel vision on offside call
In brief
- Manchester City defeated Manchester United 1-0, with Erling Haaland scoring in the 55th minute.
- Semi-automated offside technology confirmed Haaland onside by 3 centimeters.
- Enzo Fernandez was in offside position and interfered with play, but VAR officials missed the call.
- Pro Ref chief Howard Webb blamed 'tunnel vision' for the error; both VAR officials stood down.
- Manchester City retained three points despite the officiating failure.
The Tunnel Vision Problem
Semi-automated technology showed Haaland was onside by 3 centimeters, triggering a reversal of the initial offside call. But Enzo Fernandez was in an offside position when the ball was played. That detail mattered enormously.
According to Webb's assessment, Fernandez dove toward the ball, and his movement impacted United's defenders and goalkeeper. Under the laws of the game, that constitutes interfering with play from an offside position. It should have disallowed the goal.
"Howard Webb has a phrase for what went wrong at Old Trafford on September 13: tunnel vision. The Pro Ref chief said the VAR team became so fixated on semi-automated offside technology that they missed what was happening right in front of them, a textbook case of offside interference that should have wiped out the only goal in the Manchester derby." — Howard Webb, Pro Ref chief
Why Technology Alone Falls Short
VAR Matt Donohue saw the semi-automated system confirm Haaland was onside by those 3 centimeters and effectively stopped looking at the broader context of the play. Assistant VAR Blake Antrobus, whose job is essentially to be a second pair of eyes catching exactly this kind of oversight, failed to flag Fernandez's involvement.
Semi-automated offside technology was introduced to remove subjectivity from tight offside calls. But offside interference, judging whether a player in an offside position is affecting the play, remains deeply subjective. The tech solved one problem. It created no new ones. But it revealed the limits of automation in a sport where context matters.
The Premier League adopted VAR for the 2019-20 season. In the years since, the system has corrected hundreds of clear errors. It has also generated new ones, often involving the exact kind of subjective calls that technology can't automate away—handball in the penalty area, degrees of contact in challenges, whether an offside player is interfering with play.
The Response
Both officials have been stood down from Premier League duties until after the international break. Pro Ref contacted Manchester United within hours of the final whistle, sharing both the audio and video recordings from the VAR review process. Webb noted that the officials involved were "hurting" from the mistake.
Pro Ref has committed to evaluating its officiating processes in light of the derby incident. The result stands, and City took three points from Old Trafford. But the derby error underscores a stubborn truth: technology and human judgment don't operate in isolation. When one stops working, the other has to pick up the slack. On September 13, neither did.
