Fulham manager Marco Silva chastised the referees for allowing Manchester City's second goal in their 5-1 defeat on Saturday, while Erling Haaland confessed he would have been "fuming" at the decision.
Referee Michael Oliver and VAR Tony Harrington ruled that an offside Manuel Akanji did not interfere with play when Nathan Ake's header went past him and into the net to put City back ahead just before halftime in a closely contested Premier League match.
Fulham faded in the second half at Etihad Stadium, but Silva saw Ake's goal as the turning point. "Everyone who plays football and knows anything about the game would be 100 percent certain that (the VAR) has to disallow the goal," he stated.
"The more you see it, the more you realize it has to be prohibited."
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"The player moved away from the ball's path and in the direction of the goal." It's an apparent offside. It's difficult for the VAR to miss it."
Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno led the on-pitch complaints, and TV replays showed him not moving to make a save until the ball had passed Akanji.
"It was offside," Haaland confessed after full-time in an interview with beIN SPORTS. "I feel bad for them—I would also be enraged." It must be an awful sensation."
The only tiny consolation for Silva was that he escaped a fourth yellow card in four games despite spending a long chunk of the first half venting on fourth official Michael Salisbury.
Silva will have to deal with more than just City's second goal this weekend. He must also figure out how to best reintegrate star player Palhinha into his group.
On Friday, he expected to finalize his dream transfer to Bayern Munich. The 28-year-old traveled to Germany, completed his medical, posed for photos in the renowned Bayern shirt, and gave an in-house interview, only to be informed that the agreement had to be canceled due to Fulham's failure to find a replacement.
"It was a tough day for him, one of the toughest days of his life," Silva remarked.
"He enjoys being with us, but attending one of the world's largest clubs was a big opportunity." Nobody knows how he is feeling right now. He'll need all the help he can get from our fans and his teammates."
