The name Matt Donohue may not have been immediately familiar to many West Ham fans before last night’s game against Fulham at Craven Cottage — but they will certainly know it now.
Because on the night, the referee appeared to act like a 12th man for the home side, with a string of decisions seemingly going Fulham’s way and against West Ham. It was a situation that did not go unnoticed by captain Jarrod Bowen.
“They tried everything to not make it go our way,” Bowen observed after the match. “We played 99 minutes from six added on, a penalty that was never a penalty, a free-kick in the first half that shouldn’t have been one. We had a lot thrown our way, but we dealt with it.”
Bowen was absolutely bang on — and that was without even mentioning Alex Iwobi’s blatant handball which should have been a penalty.
VAR to the Rescue for West Ham
It was difficult to watch the match and not reach the conclusion that West Ham were battling the referee as much as they were Fulham.
At one stage, Fulham were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the area after Mateus Fernandes had clearly won the ball cleanly. Then Donohue pointed to the spot after a Fulham player had kicked Taty Castellanos. It was a baffling decision.
Fortunately, VAR intervened and overturned what looked like a dreadful call from the referee.
I’m not the biggest fan of the video referral system, but on this occasion it came to West Ham’s rescue. Because make no mistake about it — had that decision been left to stand, the Hammers could easily have lost the game and taken another worrying step towards relegation.
Yes absolutely right Gonzo, but now what happens. It’s obvious he was against West ham, booking a West Ham player for fouling when a break was on but Fulham get away with it a number of times. So is asked questions, does he get showen his mistakes and how they are perceived? I betting not and this is the problem with the game, no open conversations with the problems so guess what happens next game.🤔
Had we played better foot all earlier in the season, we wouldn’t be where we are, investing time in something that didn’t happen , why do we do it? The 🤔🙏🏻, just my opinion…..
I think the blame really lies with the Premier League actually. The referee last night was a Championship referee because of the amount of matches last night, so he was going to make errors and get pressured by the home fans. The Premier League need to get more Premier League quality referees.
It’s the same most weeks, for example Hooper against Utd, in addition to the 8 minutes extra time he let Macguire get away with murder, constantly fouling our players, Somerville in particular. Then we have Peter Bankes who never gives us anything, who was Assistant VAR when we played Forest, there are too many examples to mention.
It wasn’t a hand ball and it wasn’t blatant, it hit the top part of his arm it was clear in every replay. The rest I agree with, ref had a howler. Gave us yellows too easily and let them off for similar offences.
It was 100 % a penalty!!!!!!
Hit his arm in the box…it wasnt point blank range….if it was Arsenal..Manure or liveroool that was a pen….
Is there not a way to call these refs out and get them investigated by the FA? At the very least they shouldn’t ever ref a prem game again
Think the refs bank accounts need to be looked at carefully. In match betting, let alone the final result, has millions pouring in from across the world. Players are paid too much for them to bother with but the refs are low paid and have a key role in swinging in game odds in a variety of markets. It’s the only thing that explains random refereeing because common sense and the rules certainly don’t.
He was absolutely dreadful but he might have awarded Fulham a penalty in the 98th minute when Hermansen fumbled a cross. I dont think VAR would have overturned it if it had been given
Very true. It’s a game of two halves though which makes it all the more clever. Anyone checking the ref’s phones at half time?
This is why it gets all so complicated, you can not challenge a goalkeeper when he is jumping for the ball, if you do and make contact with the keeper you risk giving away a foul
Hermansen was clearly fouled first, which meant we got the free kick.
As for the handball, refs won’t give it if the ball hits above the cuff on the top part of the arm and the arm is in a natural position
The average ref gets paid £180,000 pa plus match fees, not to be sniffed at.