Jarrod Bowen scored a controversial 90th-minute penalty as West Ham grabbed a precious 2-1 win over wasteful Manchester United at the London Stadium to leapfrog Erik ten Hag’s side in the table.
Casemiro looked to have rescued a point for the visitors after sub Crysencio Summerville had capitalised on some shocking first-half finishing to put West Ham ahead.
But there was drama in the final moments when ref David Coote was sent to the pitchside monitor by VAR Michael Oliver to examine a collision between Matthijs de Ligt and Danny Ings. Replays appeared to show the United defender clipping the ball before catching the West Ham attacker but Coote – after a long review – decided there was enough contact to warrant a penalty.
Man Utd’s players were incensed but Bowen kept his cool to find the bottom corner and send his side up to 13th in the table, ahead of Man Utd on goals scored.
It was a real hammer blow for Ten Hag, who had seen Diogo Dalot fire a miss-of-the-season contender over an unguarded goal in an opening 45 minutes which also included Alejandro Garnacho hitting the bar, Edson Alvarez heading against the frame of his own West Ham goal and Man Utd pass up a series of other good opportunities.
The pressure on Ten Hag will ramp up again. It’s just one win in eight matches now for his side across all competitions. In contrast, the scrutiny on his opposite number Julen Lopetegui eases.
Ten Hag: VAR wrong to interfere for penalty decision
Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag:
“Clear and obvious isn’t how VAR worked. How they run their process. Before the season they explained the process of VAR – only when clear and obvious they should interfere. What they didn’t do against Spurs, that was a wrong decision. And now they make a wrong decision interfering and both have big impact on the games. I don’t criticise the personnel I criticise the process.
“We created so many chances, played so good football, especially in the first half. How I want my team to play in and out of possession. I (counted) six, seven 100 per cent chances we should have scored. That is a point of improvement. But overall I had not so many criticisms of my team, apart from not scoring.
“At this moment the luck is definitely not on our side. Last season was not different. Near the end we turned it around. We are so determined it will be the same case today. We have to turn this around and it will turn around if we keep playing like we are now – Brentford, Fenerbahce, today we played really good football.”
Was De Ligt harshly punished in penalty incident?
Sky Sports’ Peter Smith…
With 87 minutes on the clock there was contact between De Ligt and Ings in the box. Initially ref Coote didn’t award a penalty. However, VAR Michael Oliver deemed there was sufficient contact on Ings’ lower leg to recommend an on-field review.
Coote then spent around two minutes at the pitchside monitor watching replays of the incident.
It appeared that De Ligt made contact with the ball before catching the West Ham attacker but ref Coote ultimately decided the challenge was a foul and awarded a penalty.
The consensus of journalists around us in the press box was that it would NOT be given as a penalty and there was shock when it was awarded.
Jamie O’Hara on Sky Sports News:
“That was re-refereeing the game. The on-field referee could see it, he didn’t give it.
“There was not enough contact.
“That was not a proper foul. It’s just a bit of contact in the box. The ball was bouncing and it wouldn’t have made any difference to where that ball was going.
“That was not clear and obvious. That was not a massive error.”
Dalot’s unbelievable miss
A ball over the top from Fernandes found Dalot running in behind the West Ham defence. He clipped the ball past Fabianski and looked certain to score from the angle of the six-yard box – but somehow lofted his shot over.
There was no offside flag and the game restarted with a goal-kick. There was nothing to spare Dalot’s blushes.
Sky Sports News’ Paul Gilmour at London Stadium:
“Wow. The entire stadium braced themselves for that to hit the net but instead they’re laughing in the home end.
“Dalot did the difficult part but has somehow missed an open goal.
“He didn’t quite wait for the ball to come down enough and has lofted it over with the goal gaping.”
