PGMOL chief questions VAR process over Man Utd penalty controversy in Everton draw | OneFootball

PGMOL chief Howard Webb has defended the decision to overrule Everton's penalty in their 2-2 draw with Manchester United last month, but questioned why the on-field referee was not given a better view of the incident by VAR.

In stoppage time of the eventful game, Ashley Young flung himself to ground under pressure from both Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt. On-field official Andy Madley awarded a penalty but, after being advised to review the incident, ultimately overruled the decision.

It was a hugely controversial call as replays undoubtedly showed Young's shirt was pulled, but the Premier League quickly confirmed the officials did not believe a foul had been committed, much to the surprise of many watching from home who felt Madley had not seen enough angles of the incident to make the decision.

Webb, speaking on Match Officials Mic'd Up, agreed that Madley was not provided with the appropriate number of angles, but insisted the decision to overule the penalty would still have been reached regardless.

"The referee clearly penalised Maguire in this situation," Webb explained. "He believed Maguire pulled Young with his left hand and he describes that. The VAR knows that and it will be the starting point of the check.

"When the VAR looks at it, Maguire doesn't do what the referee perceives him to have done in real-time. He sees a touch, but not a pull by Maguire. There's no lower-body contact either. Young steps over Maguire's leg and then spreads his leg and goes to the ground.

Young was stunned / James Gill - Danehouse/GettyImages

"It's not a foul by Maguire. The award of a penalty is clearly and obviously wrong in our opinion and that of the VAR. You hear the AVAR ask about De Ligt and if he commits an offence or not. They're aware of him having potentially done something.

"They ask the referee at the screen to consider the actions of De Ligt, but I absolutely accept that the angles that are present to the referee at that point don't show a clear enough view of what De Ligt does.

"They need to show him the angles earlier at the screen. I'm not saying De Ligt's actions are a foul, but they need to show another angle to make a determination at the screen. Some of these angles were shown on broadcast and I guess that's where some of the criticism came from about how this process played out.

"We've spoken about how not all contacts are a foul contact - just because you have a small tug doesn't mean it's something you penalise. We're trying to look for impact from that action and the way Young falls forward, he spreads his legs, in my opinion, doesn't correlate to the amount of contact you see from De Ligt.

"We don't think this meets the threshold of a penalty in its own right. That was the view of the referee at the screen and was momentarily shown the angle from behind the goal.

"I'm pretty sure he would have come to the same decision anyway, but people can see he's seen the full information."