The Football Association will decide today whether to charge Luke Shaw after the Manchester United defender accused referee Stuart Attwell of refusing to award his team a penalty at Chelsea.
In a post-match interview, Shaw suggested that Attwell didn’t want to penalise Callum Hudson-Odoi for handball because the decision would have caused controversy – even though VAR advised him to award the spot-kick.
The left-back claimed to have overhead a conversation between Attwell and United captain Harry Maguire but later backtracked and said he had misheard their on-pitch exchange.
Shaw said on Sky Sports: ‘The ref even said to H [Maguire], I heard him say if I say it’s a penalty then it’s going to cause a lot of talk about it after so I don’t know what happened there. H [Maguire] said that they got told it was a penalty by VAR.’
Stuart Attwell refused to give Manchester United a penalty during their clash with Chelsea
Luke Shaw was confused by the decision and says Attwell admitted it should have been given
Despite the later climbdown, Shaw could yet face punishment from the FA, who will decide on Monday whether to proceed with any disciplinary action.
Shaw could receive a ban if the FA decide to charge him.
Shaw’s manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer added fuel to the fire with an explosive post-match interview of his own as the Norwegian insisted his team ‘100 percent’ should have been awarded a spot-kick before accusing his fellow Premier League managers of influencing officials not to award United penalties.
Jurgen Klopp, Frank Lampard and Jose Mourinho are among the managers to have commented on the number of penalties United are awarded.
Solskjaer also took aim at Chelsea’s in-house media team for an article on the official website prior to the clash that appeared to suggest Maguire has had key VAR rulings awarded in his favour this season.
‘Yes we were denied a penalty, 100 percent,’ Solskjaer said.
‘I don’t understand why. When they stop it and he [Attwell] walks across, you can see it’s handball, it’s taken two points away from us.’
Callum Hudson-Odoi (right) handled the ball inside the Chelsea box during the first half
When asked about Attwell said to United players, Solskjaer replied: ‘I can’t say, because that’s not going to be good for him.
‘I don’t want to cause controversy, It’s not right is it?
‘It’s all the outside influences, VAR talk before the game on Harry [Maguire] when they put that on the website. Cheeky.
‘That’s influencing referees. You can read what they’re saying about Harry Maguire and putting pressure on referees to give penalties against us.
‘Was it Frank [Lampard], that started it? Loads of talk about us getting penalties when there’s no doubt, and, of course, today we should’ve had a penalty.’
The referee later told Harry Maguire he was worried would be ‘a lot of talk’ if he gave one
It’s gone now – but I’m a bit concerned we don’t get those penalties after what noises were being made about getting those penalties so clearly there is a point of managers influencing the referees which they shouldn’t do.
‘Thats the nature of us as managers – anything that goes against you you want to highlight. If something goes for other teams, you probably want to try to stop that. I trust the refs not be influenced by it.’
Meanwhile, Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel warned striker Tammy Abraham he needs to see a marked improvement from the England international after he was axed from the match-day squad.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes Chelsea’s website attempted to influence referees
Abraham, who has been nursing an ankle niggle, remains the club’s top Premier League goalscorer this season but his future at Stamford Bridge is now under a cloud.
‘We have a strong squad, we only have Thiago Silva injured which means we have to take hard decisions.
‘We opted for Oli [Giroud] to begin, we had Timo [Werner] on the bench, Kai [Havertz] who can play as a No 9. So there was no need to bring a fourth No 9 to the pitch.
‘Things are a bit difficult for him, not as easy as they should be for him. It’s not his fault, it’s just the moment and he has our full support.
‘He needs to do exactly what he does, train well, be in a good mood and accept it.
‘He is a striker for Chelsea so he has the highest competition in Europe. This is what you sign up for if you’re a player or coach for Chelsea.
‘These moments arrive there’s no other answer but to fight for his place in the squad – and I’m sure he will do it.’