On any other day this season an event such as that which saw Aaron Cresswell would have seen the Hammers hoist white flags – NOT TODAY!
Slaven Bilic described Martin Atkinson’s decision as “very harsh,” former ref Howard Webb said the same on BT Sport and Harry Redknapp called it “utterly disgusting and diabolical which could have cost the Hammers after a great performance.”
What was so galling was that Cressie – superb on his comeback – was given a first yellow for simulation when he was brought down a couple of minutes earlier.
He was clearly fouled inside the penalty area and should have been awarded a spot kick but instead had the card flashed at him.
Then as he chased back at the other end moments later he was adjudged to have brought down Zaha, saw a second yellow after Atkinson held a conversation with his official and received his marching orders.
It was a horrible decision right out of the bottom drawer and one over which we have no right of appeal.
But even that ghastly injustice couldn’t take the shine off a performance which had everything we had been praying for all seaspm – quality football, a great goal, and genuine courage and determination when the going got so tough with ten men.
Our picture shows Lanzini scoring the match winner
COYI
What happened there?? You went missing for an hour..
for the 1st time in ages i find myself agreeing with sourpuss. Shouldn’t have been one yellow let alone two.
Good win, good old sing song but a poorlinesman and a ref.
Atkinson showed again how mediocre he is. He gives a penalty to palace when Ogbonna tries to kick the ball and Benteke -coming from behind him – gets in the middle, and then doesn’t give a penalty for the same scenario in the second half, with big mouth Cabaye in the starring role, who goes on to foul Cresswell, then turns around to the ref saying he did not do anything, then demands a yellow for Cress, which the “ref” gives.
58 seconds later he gives a second yellow, which any ref with a little intelligence would never do, for a player who was not violent at all in the match, who did not argue, who did not insult or elbow anyone, and who doesn’t play theatrics. Try and understand that and explain it with any word other than abysmal from a ref who shamelessly commits errors like these week after week.
I said it several times last season. This season remains the same. English refs are the cancer of this sport.
And no chance of an appeal, how can a ‘top’ official make two big mistakes in the space of two minutes??
Maybe because Mr Bean wanted to have a part to play in a match which was going very well and with sportsmanship. He is one of those who can’t help himself. He needs to be in the headlines.
Is that true Essex? Please enlighten me thanks.
Great win, and great to have our manager back to his brilliant best. Love the punch line at the end of this interview http://sport.bt.com/video/bilic-west-ham-showed-spirit-character-and-quality-91364105700873
Yeah i saw that earlier carl,it was funny 🙂
Shame we get done by the wally with the whistle again,
Cressie makes so much difference to Payet on the left and that help Lanzini as well to make those runs,
1 more game we will struggle again,
Zaza needs to make the same sort of runs that Lanzini did today to find the space but he played better,
Will that goal ever come ?
Who cares as long as we play well and win,
First time this season I have had my entertainment,
Obiang must stay he makes so much difference to us
Kouyate could be the answer at the back but Antonio is still not the answer,
It is yet another ridiculous sending off, why we can’t appeal it is also ridiculous if one of the two fouls is clearly wrong why should it matter ?
Brilliant first 44 mins and fantastic result and 90 + mins performance today.
I agree Cresswell was superb but Antonio at right wing back worked and shows how little fans know about football.
Look back over posts and see how many times people have complained Bilic doesn’t know what he is doing with Antonio our best offensive player etc… eat your words.
The balance of our team was great and I thought from Zaza backwards we defended brilliantly and got what our hard work deserved.
Well done Bilic, well done West Ham and well done WHU supporters at the match – support sounded great.
I do thing this the way to go 5 at the back may appear defensive but it gives the wing backs a licence to go and join the attack at will knowing there is cover if the move breaks down plus we got 2 perfect players for that 1 plus the match A/C miss we should win any way so stick with the same system I say and let the players get better at it and then bring him back for the chelscum game Sunderland will come for a point anyway so wont need as much cover at the back could work well as he is only just back from injury saves him from playing 33 games in a week COYI upwards from now on
Is it right that you can only appeal a straight red and not two yellows? If we are to lose Cressie for a game due to Atkinsons total stupidly then what punishment does he face? If memory serves me right, he was demoted to the lower leagues a few years ago for being so poor. Well he ain’t improved.
Big ups to Chek who was outstanding at CB, as was Reid. Obiang super too. Solid team performance, great three points and for the only the second time this season I looked forward to MOTD! Even those clowns didn’t slag us. Think we will all enjoy our Sunday for the first time in a while. COYI!
Yeah no appeal for two yellows.Cressie to miss the mackems match.Atkinson it toally *** as a ref.
Rick – and he is a Leeds fan too! If ever proof were needed that this clown has no judgement, here it is.
I think it’s time the club highlights to the FA that we are being treated more poorly than any team in the league with dodgy decisions from all of their officials, they need to review the way these officials are consistently making poor decisions and find a solution that works like video appeals for example.