Why Nottingham Forest were denied penalty for Harry Maguire handball

Steve Cooper can hardly afford to waste time in a relegation battle with Nottingham Forest getting his ear chewed off by Howard Webb.

Roberto De Zerbi is in a far more comfortable position at the helm of Brighton but was incensed by the "two hours" he lost to a meeting with the PGMOL's chief refereeing officer after the Seagulls found themselves on the end of an incorrect VAR decision in February.

There was no face-to-face when the PGMOL apologised to Brighton for another error against Tottenham last weekend and Cooper came out of Nottingham Forest's 2-0 defeat to Manchester United on Sunday fearing a phone call from Webb.

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Harry Maguire was at the heart of a scramble in Manchester United's box at a first-half corner, frantically clearing the ball to the sound of vehement penalty appeals.

“They apologised last week and they are going to have to apologise again tomorrow," Cooper seethed, "which means absolutely nothing.”

Here's a look at whether Cooper should set aside his afternoon for more grovelling from Webb.

Why did Man Utd's Harry Maguire not concede a penalty against Nottingham Forest?

This entire passage of play in the opening 20 minutes is ugly viewing for those of a Manchester United persuasion. Diogo Dalot's leaden-footed back pass gifts Forest a corner which Renan Lodi tossed into a critically crowded penalty box.

Dalot, trying to rectify his error, and Maguire both went to clear the delivery while Anthony Martial became entangled with Scott McKenna. However, no Man Utd head met the ball, which instead landed squarely on Maguire's outstretched arm.

Cooper, somewhat understandably, was stunned by the non-decision of the VAR team - and did not forget that Maguire had been booked in the opening three minutes for tugging Taiwo Awoniyi to the turf during a counterattack.

"I definitely think it was a penalty from the Maguire incident, and then a second yellow," Cooper told the BBC. "The ref should give it, I understand at this level and the type of incident why he did not give it. But I do not know how VAR did not spot it, at this level they should be doing better."

The ball strikes Maguire's arm but VAR clearly deemed that the centre-back did not make his body "unnaturally bigger". Law 12 in the FA rulebook explains that the action is not illegal if it is "a consequence of, or justifiable by, the player’s body movement for that specific situation".

Match of the Day host Mark Chapman relayed that VAR’s explanation for not giving the penalty was because the incident took place in a “congested area”. A generous interpretation of this vague reasoning could be that Maguire was forced to move his arm in that way given the gaggle of bodies jostling for the ball.

Although, that almost gives carte blanche for a defender to punch the ball away at every corner simply because it's a "congested area". Webb only has so many hours in the day to ring up the Premier League's managers.

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