Man United star blasts suspended Premier League referee David Coote
Manchester United defender Matthijs de Ligt has hit out at a recent decision by now-suspended Premier League referee David Coote.
An extraordinary first week of the November international break has seen referee's body The Professional Match Game Officials Limited (PGMOL) and the Football Association (FA) embroiled in a new investigation into top-flight official Coote.
The Nottinghamshire-based referee was alleged to be the man in a video which appeared online on Monday and subsequently went viral in which the subject responded to questions by calling United's rivals Liverpool 's***' - and their former manager Jurgen Klopp 'a German c***'.
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As this storm kicked up, De Ligt was coincidentally prompted to reminisce about Erik ten Hag's sacking at Old Trafford while on international duty. That decision arrived on the back of a 2-1 defeat against West Ham, during which Coote - on-field referee that day - opted to listen to VAR Michael Oliver and award the London side what turned out to be a match-winning penalty kick from the Dutch defender's so-called foul on Danny Ings.
"Normally I am always self-critical and I can get annoyed about things that I do not do well," the summer signing said when speaking with De Telegraaf. "But, here, I could not do anything about it, I could not blame myself for it. The referee committee also called us to say that it was not a penalty."
PGMOL chief Howard Webb previously publicly admitted VAR were wrong to intervene in the incident.
"I thought it was a misread by the VAR Michael Oliver," he said on Match Officials Mic'd Up. "A VAR who's normally very talented and reliable. He got uber-focused in this situation with De Ligt's leg.
"His leg coming through on to Danny Ings [and] not making any contact with the ball. The VAR sees that as a clear foul, but I don't think he should get involved.
"I think this is a situation where you leave the on-field decision as it is, probably whichever way it's called. VAR got too focused on the swinging leg from De Ligt.
"Referees are told they're within their rights to stick to their original decision but, of course, when they are sent to the screen, they are going because the VAR has identified what they perceive is an error, and that judgment might be wrong, as it was in this case. They need to still look at the monitor with fresh eyes and make a call."
