Howard Webb was treating his mother to a birthday lunch on a rare day not spent at a game or the VAR Hub when Manchester United played Manchester City a month ago. The game was on in the pub and when Erling Haaland scored, like most of us, Webb said to himself “offside”. As the VAR check went on and the goal was cleared, he followed with “sorry, Mum”. The 55-year-old knew his phone was about to light up. “It’s the job,” he says, shrugging. “Though I’ll be honest. From time to time I do enjoy the international break…” “From the outset, I’ll say [Haaland] was a significant error — clearly — and when something like that happens, our reputation takes a knock,” Webb admits. “All those gains we’ve made over time — slightly more efficient, slightly less intrusive VAR, more expectation management of what will lead to a review — well all those things have been happening, but then you have a Man United v Man City situation and people forget any progress.”   submitted by   /u/Sparky-moon [link]   [comments]