Chris Sutton blasts Aaron Cresswell after footage emerges from West Ham United loss v Frankfurt
Chris Sutton has slammed Aaron Cresswell for getting sent off as West Ham were knocked out of the Europa League.
West Ham suffered a 1-0 defeat in Frankfurt on Thursday night [5 May], meaning their stunning European run is over as the Germans will face Rangers in the final later this month.
David Moyes was left incensed early on in the game though as after a VAR review in the 19th minute, 31-year-old Cresswell was shown a straight red card for a foul on Jens Petter Hauge.
Sutton says that was the correct decision after the referee initially booked the Irons left-back.
Speaking on BT Sport’s Europa League Highlights show on Thursday night [5 May] Sutton said: “I thought it was a red the first time I saw it.
“I think it’s poor defending from Cresswell.
“This ball travels a long way and he takes a risk trying to nip in front of Hauge, who’s used his body extremely well.
“If he’s not sure he’s going to win it then he shouldn’t risk it. He does and it’s a denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
“Hauge uses his body correctly and the referee was right to be sent to the monitor and overturn the yellow card.
“It’s an absolute nightmare scenario for David Moyes but it’s the correct decision.”
Clear red card
What was Cresswell thinking?
West Ham were more than capable of turning around the one-goal deficit in Frankfurt up until the moment the left-back was sent off.
It was a mindless piece of defending.
It was good forward play by Hauge at the same time but Cresswell had so much time to make a decision on what he was going to do to deal with the long-range pass up the field.
For someone of his experience, that’s unforgiveable.
Cresswell’s now been sent off twice in the last few Europa League games and while the one against Lyon was debatable, there was no debating this one.
He clearly stopped an obvious goalscoring opportunity for Hauge.
It means that West Ham should really look to improve this squad in the summer because the defence simply isn’t up to scratch.
We have players who are ageing, getting close to their contracts expiring, injury-prone and not good enough.
David Moyes absolutely needs to sort that out in the summer – as well as other positions.
In other West Ham news, the winner has been named in West Ham’s race to seal a major centre-forward signing in the summer.
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