Keith Hackett has sympathy for West Ham
Writing in the Telegraph Hackett says: “I have every sympathy with West Ham United manager David Moyes over the two big controversies in Tuesday’s match at Bournemouth.
Managers need referees to get the big decisions right and on both counts Bobby Madley was emphatically wrong.
Simon Francis’s studs-high challenge on Cheikhou Kouyate was a definite red-card offence. The Bournemouth defender’s boot was high and dangerous and could have caused serious injury to the West Ham midfielder. Officials have a duty of care to protect players. Madley was also letting his colleagues down by failing to adequately punish such as reckless challenge as this. It sends out completely the wrong message.
As for Bournemouth’s third goal, I cannot understand how Madley overruled his assistant, who appeared to flag for offside when Nathan Ake headed to Callum Wilson and was in a much better position to see the infringement.
I think Madley was trying to be too clever by ignoring his assistant and he has to show trust in his colleague. I was instrumental in introducing communication kits for match officials so Madley must have been aware of his assistant’s viewpoint.
I also believe subsequently there was contact between Wilson’s arm and the ball before it went into the net. Not an impressive start to the festive programme for match officials I am afraid.”