Keith Hackett reacts to Andriy Yarmolenko red card for West Ham United under 23s
We’re delighted to welcome former Premier League referee Keith Hackett as our exclusive West Ham United columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the London Stadium...
Keith Hackett has insisted that it was the wrong decision to hand Andriy Yarmolenko a red card during West Ham United under-23s win over Swansea.
The ex-FIFA official reacted as footage was shared of the Ukrainian given his marching orders despite no real confrontation or incident.
Hackett admitted it was “harsh” and opened up on what they teach officials to look for when teaching them in the early stages of their careers.
“Look, referees have to learn,” he exclusively told West Ham News.
“I think this is a learning point for this referee. One of the things while we coaching referee about a deliberate arm or use of the elbow because I think that’s the claim here, is we look for a clenched fist.
“If you hold your arm out and you’re going back, to put power into it, you’re going to clench your fist, that’s an indicator. For me, this player was making a genuine attempt for the ball, but I didn’t see any malice or any excessive force in it, it was a harsh red card.”
Strange.
Thankfully, this was just for the under-23s and not the first-team as we hunt for critical points in the race for European football again.
The academy still went on to win the game, and the referee didn’t get too much attention after the decision was made.
It looks as though we won’t be seeing this official in the Premier League anytime soon, Hackett was not entirely impressed.
In other West Ham United news, David Sullivan is set to earn the Irons “tens of millions” in new 2022 windfall