By 90min | Created at 2024-10-29 21:33:03 | Updated at 2024-11-06 01:34:18
1 week ago
Erik ten Hag did not hold back in his fierce criticism of the decision to award West Ham United a penalty which condemned Manchester United to a 2-1 loss at the London Stadium on Sunday.
Crysencio Summerville gave the hosts a belated lead in the 74th minute which was swiftly cancelled out by Casemiro's header. The match had meandered into its final five minutes by the time United centre-back Matthijs de Ligt gently collided with Danny Ings.
Referee David Coote waved the incident away - although there were few appeals from anyone aside from Ings. VAR Michael Oliver saw otherwise, identifying "sufficient contact on Ings' lower leg". Following a pitch-side review, Coote awarded a penalty which Jarrod Bowen coolly converted in the 92nd minute.
Much like many Manchester United fans on social media, Ten Hag didn't hide his disgust, telling BBC's Match of the Day that the decision was "unfair and unjust".
Matthijs de Ligt (left) argues with referee David Coote / James Gill - Danehouse/GettyImages
The Dutchman added: "It was so difficult to see. Before the season there was the instruction about VAR only interfering in clear and obvious mistakes. That is definitely not a clear and obvious mistake from the on field referee.
"More frustrations but I can do nothing with that. They don't collect points and that's what we have to do. We have to look in the mirror, we don't score in a good game from our side. Create loads of chances and concede none but when you lose in this way it's a bad feeling."
Ten Hag revealed that he spoke with the officials, but conceded: "The decision is made. There's no way back and that's football. That's a third time I have felt injustice in the season and it has a big impact on our team and on our scores and where we are in the table. It's not right."
United squandered a glut of first-half scoring opportunities, with Diogo Dalot guilty of a particularly egregious miss - much to Ten Hag's frustration. "We have to score, we created so many chances," the under-pressure manager lamented.
"We should've been two or three up. Second half we were forcing it but we allowed them into the game. When you are losing 1-0 you need big personality and character of the team and showed resilience to get back into it."
