Daniel Sturridge and Roy Keane in agreement over incident in West Ham United v Wolves amid ‘WWE’ verdict
West Ham United defender Vladimir Coufal was lucky to avoid a red card in the Premier League clash against Wolves.
That is according to Sky Sports pundits Daniel Sturridge and Roy Keane, with the Hammers man producing a rash challenge on Wolves Jeanricner Bellegarde.
The incident took place in the first half of the match at the London Stadium on Sunday (17 December), which the hosts won 3-0.
“I don’t know if this should be happening on a football pitch,” Sturridge said on Sky Sports Premier League. “Come on, this is WWE stuff. This is rugby stuff. It’s an elbow to the jaw. I don’t know.”
Keane added: “It sounds like something has gone on before, the two of them just seemed a bit odd, the timing, wreckless. The way I look at it, lucky boy, lucky boy. You’ve seen players get red for that.”
Lucky?
Coufal will perhaps look back on the rash moment and admit that he was lucky to stay on the pitch at the London Stadium. With the Hammers 2-0 ahead at the time, there really was no need for the right-back to make that challenge.
Fortunately for Coufal he somehow got away with even a yellow card, with the defender later shown a caution for a different incident in the closing minutes of the match. Moyes then made the wise decision to withdraw the Czech Republic international, with Thilo Kehrer replacing him.
The challenge perhaps overshadows a superb win for the Hammers, who have moved up to seventh place in the Premier League table.
Coufal did help clinch a clean sheet for David Moyes’s side, but perhaps the manager will be having a few strong words for his player after what he did against Wolves. Aggression is certainly needed at the London Stadium, but perhaps not to this extent from the right-back.
In other West Ham news, a BBC journalist has shared a “remarkable” verdict on Moyes’s future at the club.