Michael Oliver, the English referee who precipitated the elimination of OM in Champions League qualifying, is out of it for a second big mistake in the Premier League this season, during Manchester City-Fulham.
International referee from the age of 27 (he is now 38), Michael Oliver is having a nightmarish start to the season. He suffers his mistakes or those of his video assistants. OM supporters are still traumatized by the unfavorable decisions of the English referee during the elimination in the third qualifying round of the Champions League against Panathinaikos, a penalty allowing the Greeks to snatch the extension.
In the process, for his debut in the Premier League, Mr. Oliver had cut corners on Manchester United fans during the shock loss against Tottenham on August 19. A shot from Alejandro Garnacho was clearly deflected off the arm (off the body) of Cristian Romero. The referee did not whistle a penalty and the video referee did not point out any obvious error. Bruno Fernandes then demanded a public apology. In vain.
This Saturday, Mr. Olivier was again betrayed by the VAR. Manchester City’s 2-1 goal against Fulham just before half-time probably shouldn’t have been allowed. On a header from Nathan Aké, Manuel Akanji, in an offside position, avoided the ball right in front of the goal. The gesture clearly embarrassed the opposing goalkeeper, Bernd Leno, who was beaten.
After no less than five minutes of viewing, the video referee was unable to have this second Cityzens goal canceled, to everyone’s amazement. Fulham manager Marco Silva, probably aware of the largely punishable offside, was furious on his sidelines. His players even thought for a time not to kick off in the face of this injustice.
How can this goal by Ake for City be validated when Akanji in an offside position is clearly playing action and influencing the decision of the Fulham goalkeeper? How ? And guess who the referee is? Michael Oliver! pic.twitter.com/rRqoVNe0fh
— Bruno Constant (@Bruno_Constant) September 2, 2023
