West Ham United: Don Hutchinson fumes at controversial decision v Freiburg
Don Hutchinson has fumed after West Ham were not awarded a penalty despite a lengthy VAR check during their 1-0 Europa League defeat to Freiburg.
The incident in question saw an effort from Thomas Soucek fly up in the air and hit the defender square on the arm before deflecting away from the penalty area.
Ultimately, though, an 81st-minute goal from Michael Gregoritsch was what decided the game for David Moyes’ side who fell to a disappointing defeat in Germany.
Taking to X after the game [7 March], Hutchinson wrote: “How on earth is this not a pen.”
More VAR controversy at West Ham United
Most of the time, fans can take defeats. They happen, performances are poor, and mistakes are made. But when there is what seems to be such a glaring officiating error which costs the team a result, it can be especially hard to swallow.
This isn’t the first, nor will it be the last time the Hammers are the victims of a controversial refereeing decision, but calls will resume for VAR in its current form to be addressed with the catalogue of errors continuing to grow.
The defeat coming at a time when their form looked to be back on the rise after impressive victories against Brentford and Everton, in which they scored a combined seven goals, will be an even heavier blow to the Hammers.
Pressure may now start to mount on Moyes’ position at the club again despite the impressive domestic results recently, but the boss will surely point to this incident as an example where the result, however poor, should have changed.
In other West Ham news, a triple exit verdict has emerged at the London Stadium.
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