VAR and Your Bet: What Happens When the Goal Is Overturned & Gary Pallister on the call that decided the Manchester derby

What happened at Old Trafford

Manchester City beat Manchester United 1-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday 13 September, with Erling Haaland scoring the only goal just before the hour against ten men.

The goal was originally given offside on the pitch. VAR then overturned it, finding that Haaland had been played on when a Josko Gvardiol cross struck Patrick Dorgu’s boot. The Premier League Match Centre said VAR had also considered Enzo Fernandez, who was in an offside position, and judged that he had not played the ball.

That is the part Pallister takes issue with, and he is not alone. United’s Lisandro Martinez called the decision unacceptable; the manager Michael Carrick called it staggering.

On Sunday evening, after Pallister gave these comments, the referees’ body Professional Game Referees accepted that the decision was an error of judgment. It said the VAR had failed to recognise the likely impact of Fernandez’s position and should have sent Michael Oliver to the pitchside monitor. It has contacted Manchester United to acknowledge the mistake, and a formal review will follow.

United are 13th with four points. City are second, level with Arsenal.

I have watched a lot of football and I have seen VAR get plenty wrong. There have been some beauties in the past, but I’d probably have to say that is the worst VAR decision I have ever seen.

Anyone watching the game with any knowledge of the offside law knows that Lisandro Martinez is impeded in getting to the ball by Enzo Fernandez but then they give the goal anyway. You’re left scratching your head.

Whoever is in the VAR room responsible for making that decision doesn’t know anything about football. An absolutely incredulous decision.

“Whoever is in the VAR room responsible for making that decision doesn’t know anything about football.”

I still back VAR. That is the problem.

None of this means I want it scrapped. I’ve stood behind VAR for a long time because they do get a lot of decisions right, but with what happened at Old Trafford yesterday, they just can’t be getting that wrong.

I don’t know who is behind VAR, but whoever was in the room there yesterday clearly got it wrong, and that is an embarrassment for VAR and the whole process.

“It puts people like Michael Carrick under pressure for losing a derby game, which shouldn’t have happened.”

Officials should face sanctions

It puts people like Michael Carrick under pressure for losing a derby game, which shouldn’t have happened. I think referees and VAR officials need potential sanctions for making such errors.

What a VAR call like that does to a bet

Gambler Media

A goal given or ruled out is not only three points. It settles bets, and the settlement rules are stricter than most people betting on a Sunday afternoon realise.

Most bets stand on the final result, whatever VAR got wrong. Bookmakers settle on the official outcome as confirmed by the competition. Where a decision is later admitted to be an error, as this one has been, the result does not change and neither do the bets. Pro Ref accepting the VAR was wrong does not return a penny to anyone who backed United.

In-play is where it bites hardest. A goal takes roughly a minute to check, and during that time prices move on an outcome that may be reversed. Most books void bets struck between the goal and the VAR decision, but the rule differs between them, and it is one of the few terms worth reading before you bet in play rather than after.

Cash out is the common trap. Cashing out during a VAR check is settled at the price shown when you press the button. If the goal is then overturned, you do not get the position back. Several bookmakers suspend cash out during a check for exactly that reason — others do not.

First goalscorer and correct score markets turn on it. Haaland’s goal was the only one of the match. Anyone holding a 0-0 correct score or an unders bet had it taken away by a decision the referees’ body has since conceded was wrong.

For anyone watching rather than betting, the cost is different but real: a derby decided by something the governing body accepted within hours was an error, with no mechanism to put it right.