West Ham United: Alan Pardew shares why David Moyes showed ‘frustration’ v Bayer Leverkusen
Alan Pardew questioned some of referee Jose Sanchez’s decisions as West Ham were knocked out of the Europa League by Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday (18 April).
This came after Jarrod Bowen was cautioned for dissent following, what he thought was, a wrong decision in Leverkusen’s favour, with the Hammers chasing a second goal.
The referee seemed to lose control early in the game as Jonathan Tah and Michail Antonio were both carded after an altercation, with a melee sparking between the two benches too.
Pardew felt that the ref’s performance created “frustration” to creep in for David Moyes and his staff as his side lost control of the game, which eventually finished 1-1 – meaning Leverkusen progressed to the semi-finals with a 3-1 aggregate triumph.
Speaking live via talkSPORT on Thursday (18 April, 9:34pm), Pardew said: “There’s frustration starting to ebb into David [Moyes], the staff, and the players of West Ham – they can feel the control slipping away.
“The amount of half-challenges that have not gone West Ham’s way is beginning to mount. I think they’ve been harshly treated a little bit by the referee and you can feel that in the stadium.”
Tempers flair as West Ham United crash out to Bayer Leverkusen
Despite the overall result, West Ham can leave the London Stadium feeling extremely proud of their performance, especially without Lucas Paqueta and Emerson Palmieri in the team.
However, fans have every right to be critical of the referee throughout the game, with the entire home support howling after Bowen was booked for dissent.
Just seven minutes later, both Vladimir Coufal and Kurt Zouma were cautioned for dissent, with Hammers players once again unhappy at a decision going in Leverkusen’s favour.
After going 2-0 down in the first leg, and being completely dominated by the newly-crowned Bundesliga champions, it looked as though it would take a miracle to overturn the two-goal deficit.
That miracle almost came in the shape of Antonio as the 33-year-old headed home the opener on the night, halving the deficit after just 13 minutes. West Ham could not complete the comeback, though, and a late Jeremie Frimpong goal killed any last remnants of hope.
In other West Ham news, Michael Owen has been left fuming amid a recent controversy in London involving the Hammers.
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