Premier League and PGMOL urged to hold talks after West Ham vs Brentford scenes
West Ham United were rather soundly beaten by Brentford at the London Stadium on Monday night.
West Ham were second best across the pitch as Brentford recorded a 2-0 win at the London Stadium.
Igor Thiago and Mathias Jensen were on the scoresheet for the Bees in either half as West Ham remain stuck in the relegation zone.
Nuno Espirito Santo made a strange West Ham selection call, which ultimately backfired as the Irons just did not get going.
The game was rather unique in a different way, too, due to a statement put out by the Premier League prior to kickoff.
West Ham vs Brentford played without semi-automated technology
Supporters have become used to seeing semi-automated offside technology in action in the Premier League, but it was not in use in Monday’s game.
The Premier League announced before the game at London Stadium that, due to the global outage of Amazon’s internet cloud business, the tech simply could not be used.
It meant match officials had to go back to drawing lines on the field in order to work out if a decision was offside.
There was inevitably a big VAR check for offside when Igor Thiago thought he had doubled Brentford’s lead late in the first half, but it was adjudged to be offside.
Asked if not being able to use the technology properly brought the league’s integrity into question, former FIFA official Keith Hackett disagreed.
However, Hackett – speaking exclusively to West Ham Zone – added that the Premier League and PGMOL should engage in conversation to ensure something similar does not happen again.
“They are not going risking the integrity of the game,” he said. “If there is a risk of any problems surrounding the operational accuracy of the semi-automated offside system, then this was a wise decision.
“Hopefully it will be a one-off situation and I hope that the Premier League and PGMOL are going to discuss with the suppliers of the equipment on how this might be avoided in the future.
“It does pose a bigger question about the integrity of the system with regard to outside interference.
“Let’s hope that this is a one-off situation, which over 380 games is not going to impact on the integrity of the competition.”
Nuno Espirito Santo off to a bad start as West Ham United manager
West Ham’s 1-1 draw away at Everton was a positive first result for Nuno, and one in which looked to provide a platform to build on.
However, a 2-0 loss to Arsenal before the international break was followed by this defeat to Brentford by the same scoreline at the London Stadium.
| Opponent | Result |
| Everton (a) | 1-1 D |
| Arsenal (a) | 2-0 L |
| Brentford (h) | 2-0 L |
Nuno now has just one point from a possible nine since replacing Graham Potter, putting added pressure on Friday’s trip to Leeds United.
Another defeat in that one and already there will be big questions asked of Nuno, as harsh as that may sound.
And on the basis of the performance against Brentford, supporters have every right to start feeling a little worried.
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