Lucas Paqueta accused of cheating by Lee Dixon after controversial West Ham United incident v Manchester United
Lee Dixon accused Lucas Paqueta of cheating in the first half of West Ham United’s FA Cup fifth-round showdown with Manchester United at Old Trafford on Wednesday night.
Man United were about the break on the counter-attack after some sloppy play by the Irons in the middle of the park gifted possession to Erik ten Hag’s men.
However, their attack was halted when Wout Weghorst was adjudged to have fouled Paqueta.
Arsenal legend Dixon felt there was no contact between the two players, saying that Brazil star Paqueta cheated the referee in order to win his side a free-kick and stop the dangerous-looking Man United attack.
Speaking on ITV1 on Wednesday night (1 March, 08:03pm), Dixon said: “I tell you what, he’s got away with one there.
“The referee was conned by the dive.
“It’s not a foul.”
Sam Matterface added that Man United “were away” on the attack when Michael Salisbury blew up for the supposed foul on Paqueta.
Lucky
David Moyes will have been relieved to see Salisbury blowing his whistle for that.
He might be less impressed by how easily we gave up possession and also he’s bound to look down on Paqueta for his dive.
Man United were about the launch a very dangerous attack so it’s a good job Salisbury, who’s not one of the better-known referees in England, wasn’t wise to Paqueta’s tricks.
It’s an ugly side of the game that we really don’t want to see.
West Ham showed some flashes of ability in that first half so it’ll be interesting to see how the second 45 minutes pans out after half time.
Paqueta needs to do a lot more – as is the case for him consistently at the London Stadium since his arrival from Lyon in the summer – but he’s not the only one.
Quality of finishing is always letting us down, as are sloppy mistakes in the middle of the park by a number of out-of-sorts midfielders.