Dale Johnson's (ESPN) take on it:
"VAR overturn: Goal disallowed for foul on Fabinho by Haaland
What happened: Manchester City thought they had taken the lead in the 53rd minute through
Phil Foden, but there was a VAR review after
Fabinho went to ground in the buildup under a challenge from
Erling Haaland.
VAR decision: Goal disallowed.
VAR review: This brings us
back around to a discussion from last month, when
Arsenal striker
Gabriel Martinelli had a goal ruled out for a foul in the buildup by
Martin Odegaard on
Manchester United midfielder
Christian Eriksen.
Erling Haaland pulls on the shirt of Fabinho. BBC
If referees are officiating games to a higher threshold, allowing the game to flow more and not giving so-called soft free kicks, then the VAR should be trying to officiate that way too.
Referee Anthony Taylor saw the incident and, as he had done so in the rest of the game, decided there wasn't enough in the challenge to warrant a free kick; he is seen to gesture at
Fabinho to get up.
The VAR, Darren England, is effectively re-refereeing the game by intervening and making a judgement on an individual incident to a different standard. Once Taylor is sent to the monitor and shown the pull on the shirt, he has little option than to go with the advice of the VAR. Perhaps Taylor didn't see the tug, but the fact remains that disallowing the goal for this went against the way the game was being officiated.
The independent panel, which assesses all major decisions, told Arsenal that the VAR shouldn't have become involved in the Odegaard-Eriksen incident, and this feels like it's on those exact same lines."
But then he finishes by grasping at this straw:
"However, there was no way the goal could stand, regardless of the merits of the Fabinho-Haaland incident.
Subsequently, Haaland kicked the ball when it was already under
Alisson's control. It's a very simple area of law: if the goalkeeper has even one hand on the ball when it is on the ground, he is deemed to be in control and cannot be challenged. If Taylor had rejected the overturn for the possible foul by Haaland on Fabinho, he would then have been shown this next situation."
Or the next one, or the next one, until they had found a good one, I suppose.