West Ham Online

V Bramall Lane Sun 21st Jan 14:00 VAR Robert Jones Michael Salisbury (8) - 30 0 Awaiting team news Awaiting team news Sheffield 12/5: Draw 23/10: West Ham 11/10 .

I had a Toney on it Sold….

The two pen decisions yesterday were fucking outrageously shit.... I mean almost like someone had money on the game outrageously shit...

"As per what others have said was baffled with the officiating, this place would have had a meltdown anyway if it had been running yesterday. One thing that's forgotten is when Areola gave the penalty away by having someone else elbow him in the face the clock stood just over 98 minutes. The free kick itself was over the 6 minutes added time so where does the extra two minutes come from? What surprised me was the Referee didn't blow up straight after their penalty. Bowen being wrestled to the ground clear penalty, and how the Referee or indeed his Assistant who was only 5 yards away not see that tackle on Emerson as a straight red on first showing was baffling. You don't need VAR to work that out. That said first half was poor and we were second best for a fair bit of the second against it has to be said a crap side. Wondered what on earth Moyes was up to playing Ings as a number 10 but to be fair he had a decent game, not a long term solution though obviously. Johnson was laughing himself when he told the team he was in central midfield, but bizarrely did really well. Been impressed with Johnson last few appearances but again not a long term solution. Kudus and Paqueta play along with a fully fit Bowen we probably win that game so some surgery desperately needed on the squad."

"Oh, and there was a challenge by their keeper on Ings very early in the first half when I said at the time to my Dad I’m not sure why keepers get a free pass when starfish jumping at an attacker, missing the ball and colliding with the player. I accepted I was being biased and that would have been harsh, but it was much more a fucking foul than Areola’s!"

"As is always the case, it was all summarised perfectly by Joe Cole, who even if lacking standard media eloquence always talk sense. When the overrated Laura Woods said “the next decision to review, the red card which we agree the ref got right”, he responds “well no he didn’t get it right because you shouldn’t need VAR to see that’s a red card” A shocker of a challenge. That breaks and ankle or snaps an achilles if his foot is planted. From a Chadwell Heath boy as well. The penalty decisions are so blatantly and horrendously wrong that there is no point analysing. I suspect he’ll be stood down from officiating for a couple of weeks."

How on earth did they not call a penalty on Bowen at the end?

"They claimed it was because he came and missed the ball, but it looked like they were both missing the ball as too high and over both of them..."

boleyn8420 6:18 Yup- agree with that. I happened to watch the MOTD analysis and they were really scathing of the officiating. They didn't really play it back during the match on TNT but slow mo (as the VAR crew should have had access to) it's an astonishing decision and it was actually far worse than i thought. As you say Areola is the one fouled if anything. For VAR not to have had a bloody good look at that is insane. I thought Areola maybe was clumsy but even so you see keepers do the same thing week in week out. Actually he takes an elbow to the face and is impeded from getting to the ball. How the officials can see otherwise is at best bewildering and at worst rather worrrying.

"Manuel, I thought we won 2-1 at Luton."

"We won 0-1 at Luton and they had a stonewall last min, we won 1-2 at Burnley with 2 very late goals, yesterday Moyes's luck run out, go fuck yourself Moyes. There was a 20 min spell yesterday where we resembled a park side, fucking woeful. Deserved fuck all."

"So our goalkeeper comes out and punches thin air and yet gets an elbow in the face from the forward, causing a bloodied lip and the ref gives a penalty. For what, self-harming in the fucking area. When I watched this I thought, as with EVERY other challenge on a goalkeeper, that it would be a free kick to us. No VAR for a clear and very fucking obvious error. Then up the other end Bowen gets rugby tackled and he gives nothing at all for a clear and obvious penalty. For both contentious and WRONG decisions why did it not go to VAR. And as for that fat northern twat Chris Wilder saying the late high studs up two footed challenge from Brewster wasn’t even a red card is beyond me. Even then the twat of a ref gave initially a yellow, what game was this inept prick watching, he was only 5 yards away. FFS"

If that were one of the so-called big teams playing Sheffield Utd yesterday the two penalty decisions would've gone their way. I remember 2 or 3 seasons ago Manchester Utd was awarded a penalty at Brighton after the final whistle had been blown.

"Nothing wrong with the technology rather it’s the inconsistency of human implementation that is, as ever, the issue. The technology cat is out of the bag and here to stay. Btw, Coufal is an idiot for his first yellow. Serves him if he loses his starting place for the rest of the season."

"If u gonna have VAR you gotta use it pretty much for any incident in the box. Now other refs are saying they thought it was a handball by Bowen and that he initiated the pulling ? That his they say the mistake was made so in one breath it’s a pen but trying to excuse the officials. So as usual it’s not VAR but those using or not using it. So did they agree with the ref after looking at the footage or not ? That’s what would be interesting ? If they didn’t they were wrong not to and the question is why? If they did but just let it go then still wrong and pure incompetence or not understanding the game etc? The ref what himself and they let him make the error as he’s gonna upset a voiciferous home crowd in the last minute. Also knows it’s not one of the teams that the corporate sponsors back ( rich 5 or 6 ) so will get less grief even if it’s a wrong decision. Simply comes down to the root cause of all human issues …. Fear !! Bad design our primeval instinct. Great when ur a caveman but kicks in far too easy, releases adrenaline too and you shit yer self :-("

From the Mail: MARK CLATTENBURG: VAR got Sheffield United's late penalty against West Ham VERY wrong during bonkers draw at Bramall Lane... and it's astounding how Jarrod Bowen wasn't given a spot kick for the Hammers

"Swap Bowen and Bramall Lane for Salah and Anfield and we all know the outcome, and that fucking stinks."

Match of the day saying Mcbunny should have had a yellow or worse for the pen. Bowen was 50/50 could have gone either way

Match of the day saying Mcbunny should have had a yellow or worse for the pen. Bowen was 50/50 could have gone either way

"Right. Lots of things to rant about from yesterday. Coufal- what was his first card even for? Why was he the only one who got booked in that big melee? Even given that, what an idiotic challenge for the second one. Cost us two points seen as they basically got the penalty off the free kick resulting from it. Their penalty- is is just me or was that so soft it was made of cotton wool, or not even a pen? Did Areola even punch him anyway? Didn't look like it. Since forever the keeper is allowed to come out to claim like that whether he gets it or not. Seemed somewhat dodgy to me. You see those in every game. And VAR didn't seem to look? Bowen pulled over at the end. Say no more- that's a penalty. No idea why that wasn't looked at. If the reason was it came off Bowen's hand, i don;t know how he's supposed to help that as he was in the process of being rugby tackled to the ground. Actually my cousin texted me with a theory- they rarely seem to look at VAR very late on in matches and as a result that's where lots of stuff slips through because it's not bothered to be checked properly. Like the VAR lot just want to go outside for a fag. No idea if he's got a point or not though? Anyway. With Coufal we absolutely contributed to our own downfall, but those two late calls which didn't go our way both seemed totally wrong. Oh, and that Brewster challenge was fucking disgusting. Can't believe VAR had to even intervine."

Canvey that’s easy…. Everyone :-). Actually in the game against the type of team Sheffield are he was very useful helping defend especially on corners and set pieces but since he contributes little when we try to keep possession or move forward it’s a vicious circle as he has to help defend as we are invariably under the cosh as a result.

"Nice to see JWP with some honesty after the game saying we weren't good enough and didn't deserve to win. Also said if we carry on playing like that we won't finish top half. Yeah we would have won has the decisions been made correctly, bur it doesn't change the fact that we were shit and allowed Sheffield fucking United 57% of the football."

Emerson going into CM against Bristol. Johnson going into CM against Sheff United. Who else in our squad is also better than Soucek in CM?

"II can't stand VAR, and was completely 100% against right from the very first murmurs of it, but it's here to stay so everyone had better just get used to it. Pandora's box has been opened. If you ever wanted it, then you're guilty for ruining the game as far as I'm concerned."

"This site seems to have mirrored Ings and Johnsons West Ham career as it rises like a phoenix from the ashes :-) Yesterday we were absolutely robbed of 2 points. The penalty against us is never given normally and Mcbernie turned his back on Areola and his elbow caught the keeper. He fouled the keeper. And it was a stonewall penalty at the end on Bowen. The defender didn’t look at the ball and grabbed with both arms pulling Bowen to the ground. Ref was intimidated by the Sheffield crowd and shat himself after having to send their bloke off and even that he got wrong. That was a clear red as you get with his foot off the ground clattering Emerson. From then on he was determined to even things up whatever it took. The game and performance was as expected. We didn’t deserve a win based on performance but certainly were robbed of one. Premier league apology number 10. VAR didnt intervene on the 2 decisions ? Why tge hell not ? I blame the fvckwits at Stockley Park as much as the cowardly refereeing. Only Ings, Johnson played well although I will admit begrudgingly that Soucek did ok defending. It’s his job in midfield getting and keeping the ball that was average as per normal. Areola did ok too and only because the ref got it wrong people might judge him harshly imo ? Otherwise Emerson, the Greek and Zouma were average, JWP the same but Coufal and Fornals stank the place out imo. Cornet I had hopes for and when wide left he looks better and yes got a goal but overall he was dusappointing as was Bowen tbh but he was not 100%. Ok Cornet may get another start but he needs to get his passing improved as that was his biggest issue. Hopefully we can get a player or two and get injured ones back asap because we looked nothing like a top 6 or even top half team. Sheff Utd are poor but out played us in many ways."

"Oh, and here are words that I thought I'd never say - Ings MOtM."