'Three times this season we feel injustice' ten Hag frustrated with VAR
INJUSTICE: Ten Hag has clearly had enough of rogue decisions after the red card Bruno Fernandes received in the recent defeat by Tottenham which was later rescinded and last week’s goal conceded against Brentford after de Ligt was ordered off the pitch for treatment on a bleeding head wound.
ERIK ten Hag left the London Stadium furious about the VAR decision that leaves him clinging to his position as Manchester United manager.
He also criticised his players for their ineptitude in front of goal in a match they should have won at a canter, yet somehow lost.
Having recovered from conceding a 74th-minute Crysencio Summerville goal to equalise through Casemiro’s stooping header, United were pressing for a winning goal in injury time when referee David Coote suddenly halted play to consult the pitchside VAR monitor.
Coote had been advised by VAR official Michael Oliver to look at a coming together of Matthijs de Ligt and Danny Ings in the United penalty area 30 seconds earlier.
De Ligt’s challenge barely warranted a check, never mind the reversal of Coote’s original decision, yet he awarded a penalty which was converted superbly by Jarrod Bowen.
Ten Hag has clearly had enough of rogue decisions after the red card Bruno Fernandes received in the recent defeat by Tottenham which was later rescinded and last week’s goal conceded against Brentford after de Ligt was ordered off the pitch for treatment on a bleeding head wound.
Ten Hag said: “Three times this season we feel injustice. In football not always does the best team win and today that was clear and obvious.
“But clear and obvious was not how VAR worked. Before the season they explained the VAR process and that only when it’s clear and obvious would they interfere.
“They didn’t do that against Spurs when they should have done it to interfere over the red card for Bruno. That was the wrong decision and now they make the wrong decision again.
“Both of them have had big impacts on the scores of the games.
“I am not criticising any person. The on-field referee has to make the final decision. He took three minutes to make this call, but then you have to show a big personality to recall this decision that an experienced VAR has made.”
Ten Hag qualified his side’s defeat at the London Stadium by admitting to their failings in front of goal.
He added: “First, we look in the mirror and at what we do wrong. The only thing I can criticise the team for today was missing chances. I counted six or seven chances where 100% we should have scored.”
The most glaring miss came from full-back Diogo Dalot after 31 minutes. A superbly judged Fernandes floated pass fell perfectly into the path of Dalot, who clipped the ball over advancing West Ham keeper Lukasz Fabianski and seemed certain to score.
That was until he panicked in front of an open goal when the ball simply would not drop quickly enough for him, and sent a wild hack high and wide.
He was not the only culprit. Alejandro Garnacho missed two chances in the opening eight minutes, including curling a shot against the bar when there was a gaping hole beneath it.
Rasmus Hojlund struck a number of shots straight at Fabianski, Fernandes headed over and Fabianski, who also fluffed a catch and saw it hit the West Ham bar, atoned with a superb parry of a Marcus Rashford header.
West Ham were too passive in the first half, but a triple substitution by manager Julen Lopetegui changed that with one of his replacements, the dynamic Summerville, turning home a mishit Ings shot from close range.
Casemiro then headed United level after their own substitute Joshua Zirkzee had nodded the ball onto him.
In truth, West Ham’s win will mask another poor performance. Not that Lopetegui agreed.
He said: “They were two different halves. We changed things at half-time and deserved to win the second half.”
: Fabianski 6; Wan-Bissaka 6, Mavropanos 5 (Todibo 46, 6), Kilman 7, Emerson 6; Alvarez 5, Rodriguez 5 (Cresswell 90+4, 6); Bowen 7, Paqueta 4 (Soucek 46, 6), Soler 5 (Summerville 46, 8); Antonio 7 (Ings 71, 6)
: Areola, Coufal, Guilherne, Irving
: Onana 6; Dalot 6, de Ligt 6, Martinez 6, Mazraoui 5 (Lindelof 84, 6); Eriksen 6 (Zirkzee 79, 6), Casemiro 7;
Rashford 4 (Amad 59, 6), Fernandes 8, Garnacho 7; Hojlund 6
: Bayindir, Evans, Wheatley, Amass, Fletcher, Ugarte
: David Coote
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
