Carlton Cole furious with referee and Moussa Dembele during West Ham v Lyon
Carlton Cole was absolutely furious with the referee for sending off Aaron Cresswell during the Europa League quarter-final clash between West Ham and Lyon.
The Hammers were under pressure but defending well when Moussa Dembele was put through on goal, and Aaron Cresswell tugged his arm as he took a touch away from goal.
Dembele crumbled to the floor looking for a foul and Cresswell was sent off for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity, but the decision was very soft and Cole was furious during the half-time analysis on BT Sport.
“No, that’s not enough contact to go down in that fashion,” Cole fumed.
“If I was to go down in that fashion they’d call me a diver. And look, when you look at his face as well, when the camera goes on to Dembele he knows he’s bought that and he winks.
“Of course he does [know what he’s doing]. He’s getting the opportunity to do that, and he’s going to take it.
“Do you know what, on top of that, he’s seeing how that referee is at the moment. He’s given some free-kicks that were not free-kicks so he’s thinking if I go down here at any sort of touch I might get it here. I actually might get it and I might be in ascendance with it.
“That’s why it’s really important not to be put in that situation, and I think he’s just bought it off Cress.”
Awful
It’s quite simply an awful decision from the referee with zero common sense applied to what actually happened.
It’s clear as day that Dembele is waiting and looking for contact and his touch is away from goal outside the penalty area, so there’s no way it can be denying an obvious goalscoring chance.
The wink makes things even worse, but in reality that doesn’t really mean anything, because obviously he wants the best for his own team.
Ultimately though, VAR let the Hammers down once again here because they should be looking at the foul and telling the referee it’s a yellow card at the absolute most.
Now David Moyes will have to solve the conundrum of having no Cresswell for the second leg in France, because of the nonsense decisions of the man in charge during the biggest game West Ham have had in the London Stadium.
In other West Ham news, ‘Absolutely incredible’ – BT Sport commentators stunned by what West Ham duo did v Lyon
Be sure to follow West Ham Zone on Facebook for 24/7 updates on the Hammers plus more exclusive interviews with Frank McAvennie.