‘Embarrassing’: Man Utd legend on VAR and why they didn’t deserve to beat Man City

Despite playing with an extra man for well over an hour and despite having 10 more shots on goal than their old rivals, Manchester United fell to a 1-0 defeat to Manchester City at Old Trafford on Sunday – and while the VAR decision to allow the winner will get much of the attention, one former United legend was just as frustrated by their performance as by the officiating.

Former centre-back Gary Palister, speaking exclusively to 3 Added Minutes courtesy of NetBet, had plenty to say about Erling Haaland’s winning goal, but ultimately felt that the eventual defeat wasn’t solely down to a dubious decision.

Pallister: Manchester United didn’t deserve to win the derby

Pallister, who made over 400 appearances for Manchester United between 1989 and 1998 and won nine major trophies with the club, felt that his former side failed to take advantage of being a man up on the opposition following Phil Foden’s straight red card after 23 minutes.

“I don’t think we deserved to win the game yesterday,” Pallister told 3 Added Minutes. “We didn’t really find a tempo to play against a team that was prepared to sit deep and hit on the break with Haaland.

“I think in a way it probably would have been better for us 11 versus 11. I’ve done it myself, played against 10 men in games and they become more compact, they don’t give you the space to play and they’re trying to protect that point – and it can become difficult.

“We didn’t really change the tempo yesterday, or change things until deep into the second half… Fair play to City. They became almost a better team going down to 10 men. They had something to fight for, it felt, and they really battled for the shirt and for their fans.”

While Manchester United ultimately ended up with 16 efforts on goal – compared to Manchester City’s six – they only managed five shots in the first half, just two of which came between Foden’s dismissal and the half-time whistle, and often got bogged down against a disciplined City defence.

United also struggled to create clear-cut chances. None of their attempts on goal were worth more than 0.06xG until Bryan Mbeumo found himself wide open inside the penalty area in the dying moments of the game.

The 1-0 defeat means to their cross-city rivals means that United have now earned just four points from their first four games. An eyebrow-raising opening weekend defeat to Hull City and last weekend’s draw with Everton had already created concern that the forward momentum from the 2025/26 season was beginning to dissipate – and another defeat may create a sense of mounting pressure.

“We’ve had an underwhelming start to the season, there’s no getting away from that,” Pallister continued. “Hopefully we can get ourselves back into shape. The next game [against Brighton] I think will be vital for United to win, because [otherwise] that would be three weeks of the press pulling United apart.

“I’m loathe to have a go because it is so early on in the season. I don’t like to detract from the positive end to the season they had last year. [There was] certainly a turnaround in the spirit of the players at the club, the fight that Michael [Carrick] brought to the team, but that will only take you so far.

Ex-Man Utd hero ‘flabbergasted’ by ‘embarrassing’ VAR decision

Although Pallister felt that Manchester United’s failure to dictate the tempo of the game and find convincing routes to goal was the primary reason that they lost the Manchester Derby, he still shared the outrage of many fans after the decision to allow Haaland’s controversial goal.

The Norwegian’s strike on the hour mark was initially ruled out, only for VAR to overturn the decision after the officials decided that Enzo Fernández had not been interfering with play when he was caught in an offside decision. The Premier League’s refereeing body, Pro Ref, has since admitted that the final outcome of the VAR process was an “error of judgement.”

“The VAR decision is ridiculous,” Pallister said. “Everybody can see plainly that [Fernández] is interfering with play and it’s beyond belief that they can come up with a decision like that when you can see with your own eyes. I’m flabbergasted as to how they’ve come to that decision.

“This is one of the most embarrassing moments, I think, for VAR. We’d have some in the past but yesterday was such a big, high-profile game. To get it wrong, when it’s as plain as the nose on your face, beggars belief.”

Sunday’s decision was the latest in a long line of VAR-related controversies, and was described as an “injustice” by United defender Lisandro Martínez – while head coach Carrick told the media that he was “confused” by the outcome of the process.

Although Haaland’s deciding goal created a key talking point, Pallister didn’t feel as though it offered excuses for the defeat – and expects head coach Carrick to be looking for ways to improve his team at speed.

“We’ve got to start being able to dominate games, being in control of games, and at the moment I’ve not really seen that apart from the last half an hour against Ipswich when you’d have to say they capitulated.

“It’s been a tough start to the season. Michael isn’t daft. He knows it’s not been the start the fans would have thought we’d have had, and there’s work to be done on the training pitch.”