In United's 1-1 draw with Southampton, Cristiano Ronaldo scored a goal in a free-kick attack in the second half, however, the referee and VAR video assistant referee confirmed the cancellation of the goal, because Manchester United had at least 5 offsides, and could be offside twice! The United players were unhappy with this and surrounded the referee, which was ridiculed by the fans because it was a waste of time.
At that time, Bruno Fernandez took a free kick on the right, and Manchester United's Pogba, Maguire, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rashford and Varane were all in a clear offside position, while Sancho had some doubts about whether he was offside, which may need to be confirmed by VAR technology, and the possibility of offside is greater than not offside.
Sancho then headed the ball across the board and Ronaldo relayed the ball into the net in front of goal, but slow motion showed the Portuguese superstar once again in offside. As a result, the goal was ruled invalid and there was no controversy. Regardless of whether Sancho is offside or not, whether the header touches the ball or not, Ronaldo's goal is offside, the difference is only once or twice.
The Manchester United players' moves were blamed by the fans for wasting their time trying to score goals. One United fan said: "It was a testament to the team's ball quotient, they wasted a few minutes of their time arguing with the referee about a goal that was definitely invalid, and the team desperately needed to try to win the goal.
Another fan taunted United's set-piece coach, Eric Ramsey, who has since taken office and has scored only one goal from a free kick, but only because of a low-level error by Aston Villa goalkeeper Martinez. "We hired a set-piece coach, please count, all 6 attacking players are offside, this is probably the worst appointment in the club's history!" The United fan said.
To united's embarrassment, in Sunday's Premier League, rivals Liverpool once again scored the winning goal through a corner kick. Arnold drove a corner kick from the left, Mane headed it across the line and Fabinho made two consecutive shots that sent the ball into the net. It was Liverpool's second time in four days to score from a corner, with Diogo Jota also opening the scoring through a corner in a 2-0 win over Leicester City. This means that Liverpool's corner goal in a week surpassed Manchester United's past year!
In contrast, United have scored just one corner in the Premier League in the past year, when West Ham centre-back Clegg Dawson headed Fernandez's corner straight into his goal in March 2021. Since then, United have scored 128 corners without success.
Meanwhile, England international Trippier, who was introduced by Newcastle United in January, has scored directly through free kicks twice in the last five days to help the Magpies jump out of the relegation zone in victory. Manchester United fans were very unhappy about this, because Trippier was originally the target of the Red Devils, but in the end the club gave up the introduction in order to save money. Only Fernandez has scored a tactical free-kick this season.