SAN FRANCISCO, January 06, (THEWILL) – There was a popular joke last last year on Twitter that went something like: “There is a high probability that if Manchester United wins a match with more than one goal, there must have been a penalty involved and it was most likely scored by Bruno Fernandes.”
It gained in popularity so fast that the hardworking Portuguese midfielder was rechristened “Penandes” a humorous mix of the word “penalty”and his surname “Fernandes”.
The reason for this viral humour against United stemmed from how easily they won penalties. Oftentimes, it happened in crunch matches where the result was not in their favour, they needed a goal which was not forthcoming in open play and dropping points was not an attractive option.
Suddenly, a United player was impeded in the box and the match official pointed to the spot for a penalty for United. Fernandes stepped up and with forthright regularity buried the ball in the net.
It became an all too familiar sight for the typical football fan of the English Premier League. Creative memes were made about it in jest and even some United fans joined the humour, laughed along but were pleased it favoured their side.
With the points tally from these games where a penalty decision helped them to victory, they have stealthily climbed up the League table to gain on clubs dropping points and currently share the summit with Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, though with a game in hand.
The defending champions have had poor results of late as goals have not been as easy to come by as they were last season. Although they put seven past Crystal Palace in their December 19 fixture, they have since dried up in front of goal. They failed to beat second-from-bottom West Bromwich Albion at Anfield ending a goal apiece, could not find the back of the net in a goalless stalemate against 15th-placed Newcastle and lost recently away to Southampton.
This has seen them drop so many points to lose the space they created between them and others at the top to now stand the possibility of going second should United win their next Premiership fixture, an away tie to Burnley. They may even drop to third if both Man U and third-placed Leicester win their subsequent games in the EPL. And the other teams are knocking on that door to open and jump ahead of the defending champions if Liverpool does not quickly find their winning mojo.
When Klopp brought up United penalty jibe during post-match comments, it appeared that Man U breathing down their necks in the table run was high on his mind. It is possible he felt the referees were not awarding as many penalties to the Reds as they did for the Red Devils and that if he had that many, his team will possibly be ahead by many more points, but the unprovoked reference to United’s penalty haul was brow-raising.
After the 1-0 loss to Southampton, the Liverpool gaffer quipped, “I hear now that Manchester United had more penalties in two years than I had in five and a half years. I’ve no idea if that’s my fault, or how that can happen.”
The stats bear evidence. 11 penalties have gone Man U’s way in all competitions this season. Six of them have been in the league competitions. On the other hand, Liverpool have got five in the league as well. This does not add up to support Klopp’s claim except it is taken in the wider perspective and viewed from the time United coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer arrived in December 2018.
Based on that longer time frame, United have won an unmatched 42 spot-kicks in all competitions since Solskjaer’s arrival at the Theatre of Dreams while Liverpool has managed to do with just 19 in the same time frame.
However, Solskjaer did not concede to Klopp’s jibe quietly. He responded by suggesting that managers who keep bringing the penalty discussion up are simply trying to influence referees in favour of their clubs. The Norwegian said: “I don’t count how many penalties they have, so if they want to spend time on worrying about when we get fouled in the box, I don’t spend time on that.”
Solskjaer referenced another manager, Chelsea’s Frank Lampard, who played the blame card and successfully impacted the decision-making of referee Mike Dean in the FA Cup semi-final last season: “I can’t talk on behalf of other managers, why they say things like this. Obviously I felt it worked last year in the semi in the FA Cup because Frank spoke about it and we had a nailed-on penalty that we should have had that we didn’t get.
“So maybe it’s a way of influencing referees. I don’t know, but I don’t worry about that. When they foul our players it’s a penalty. It’s just when it’s inside the box.”
Whatever may be the case, the title race has heated up now more than ever this season. Teams around the summit are within breathing space of the top and like sharks circling a target, they all smell blood from Liverpool bleeding points and they are ready to come for the kill. The war of words is testament to the fight ahead. Klopp and Solskjaer will have a chance to battle it out beyond words when the Red Devils travel to Anfield on Sunday, January 17.
Hopefully, there will be a penalty to settle the scores. But, who will it be awarded in favour of? Only time will tell.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
