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Hammers ref maulings go on and on

offsideAn expert panel put together by ClubTalk.com reviewed several highly-dubious decisions in the West Ham v Arsenal game last weekend. The panel agreed West Ham suffered another two crucial incorrect decisions which cost them 2 goals on Saturday.

Andy Carroll red card escape v Arsenal: The West Ham striker certainly made his mark on the match, hauling the Hammers back into the match with a deadly double on the stroke of half-time, before putting them 3-2 ahead by completing his hat-trick shortly after.

However, the Hammers forward was arguably lucky to still be on the field, having been booked for a poor lunge on Laurent Koscielny in the third minute, he then caught Gabriel with a flaying elbow in the second half. Despite ref Craig Pawson awarding the foul, three of our five-man panel felt a second booking would have been harsh. Verdict: Correct decision

Manuel Lanzini disallowed goal v Arsenal: The Argentinian thought he’d handed West Ham an early lead in the match when he converted Carroll’s overhead kick from close range. However, the linesman waved Lanzini offside, though replays showed he was clearly played on by Hector Bellerin. Verdict: Incorrect decision

Nacho Monreal penalty appeal v West Ham: The Spanish full-back felt he deserved a spot-kick after a collision in the box upended him. However, there was not enough in it to warrant a penalty, with the passage of play leading directly to Mesut Ozil’s opener for Arsenal. Verdict: Correct decision

Possible Mesut Ozil offside in Arsenal’s opener v West Ham: The German handed Arsenal the lead when his well-taken shot beat Adrian, though the Hammers felt Ozil could have been offside. However, replays showed the playmaker was level with Angelo Ogbonna when latching onto Danny Welbeck’s pass and the officials were right to let play continue. Verdict: Correct decision

Possible offside in build-up to second Carroll goal v Arsenal: The Gunners felt Michail Antonio was offside as the ball was dinked back into the box just ahead of Carroll’s equaliser on the stroke of half-time. However, the West Ham wing-back, while stood in an offside position, was not interfering with play and again it was right for the goal to stand. Verdict: Correct decision

Lanzini penalty appeal v Arsenal: The Argentinian completed an unfortunate afternoon when he was denied what a possible penalty following a challenge from Bellerin in the area. Although you can understand why the referee, with what initially looked like an innocent coming together, waved play on, our panel felt (with the benefit of replays) that the Spaniard had both an arm on his shoulder and also slipped and fell onto the player’s legs. Verdict: Incorrect decision

Dimitri Payet disallowed goal v Arsenal: West Ham felt they’d been denied a goal when Payet fired in after Koscielny and David Ospina had allowed the ball to escape them both under heavy pressure from Carroll. But our panel voted 3-2 in favour of the referee, who’d deemed the West Ham striker to have fouled Arsenal’s French defender. Verdict: Correct decision

Gabriel red card escape v Arsenal: The defender carelessly lost possession when under pressure from that man Carroll and stuck out a leg at the end of a theatrical tumble to not just impede, but complete prevent the striker, at the least, getting a shot in on goal. Our panel however felt that the Brazilian’s challenge was a yellow card at worst. Verdict: Correct decision

The updated table (below) shows West Ham now have a net total of 11 incorrect decisions against them, almost double that of Swansea who are second from bottom who have a net total of six against them. In contrast, tomorrow’s opponents, Manchester United lead the table with a net total of 7 incorrect decisions in their favor showing potential favouritism to bigger clubs.

Table

 

 

About Sean Whetstone

I am Season Ticket Holder in West stand lower at the London Stadium and before that, I used to stand in the Sir Trevor Brooking Lower Row R seat 159 in the Boleyn Ground and in the Eighties I stood on the terraces of the old South Bank. I am a presenter on the West Ham Podcast called MooreThanJustaPodcast.co.uk. A Blogger on WestHamTillIdie.com a member of the West Ham Supporters Advisory Board (SAB), Founder of a Youtube channel called Mr West Ham Football at http://www.youtube.com/MrWestHamFootball, I am also the associate editor here at Claret and Hugh. Life Long singer of bubbles! Come on you Irons! Follow me at @Westhamfootball on twitter

One comment on “Hammers ref maulings go on and on

  1. Yes the refereeing has been terrible. Yes it has cost us a couple of games – certainly Man Utd and Chelsea. But this constant masochistic analysis of “what ifs” is becoming tiresome. We’ve had a tremendous season, far better than we hoped for. Let’s dwell on the good and enjoy the last few games of what has been one of the most interesting Premier League seasons in years.

    There’s also a thing called ‘causation’. Just because we scored the first goal on Saturday it doesn’t mean we would have gone on to have won the game. It would have made the game take a totally different course. Maybe we would have won, maybe we would have lost. And when we have a player sent off let’s remind ourselves of all the times we talk about how hard it is to beat 10 men rather than how it cost us the game.

    Bring in video replays and we can just end this nonsense. Until then we have a choice. Either roll with the bad luck, regardless of how biased it seems right now, or spend our time crying over things we can’t change.

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