West Ham United: Dermot Gallagher reacts to contentious issue v Crystal Palace
Dermot Gallagher believes Crystal Palace midfielder Naouirou Ahamada was rightly spared a red card during the win over West Ham.
United’s players felt Ahamada should have been sent off for an out-of-control tackle on James Ward-Prowse during Sunday’s (21 April) contest.
However, Gallagher pointed out that the Palace midfielder had lost his balance and tried his best to make as minimal as contact as possible.
“It looks much worse here. When you look into it, firstly he slips, and also he tries to pull out of it,” the former Premier League referee said on Sky Sports News [22 April, 11:38am].
“I think a yellow card is right. It looks really bad from this angle, but close up you can see he slips.”
West Ham fall to heavy defeat against Crystal Palace
Ahamada was fairly fortunate to have avoided seeing a red card, but replays do show that the challenge was not as bad as it first looked.
That incident came less than two minutes after Palace had gone 5-1 ahead, so it is a decision that ultimately made no difference on the game.
The big talking point to come out of the contest was not this contentious issue, but rather than scoreline itself and the performance of every player.
No United player at Selhurst Park could come out of the game with their head held high on what was a shocking day for the Irons.
Indeed, it was the type of display that makes you wonder if time may now be up for under-fire manager David Moyes.
After all, the Scotsman could not blame refereeing decisions or player for just how bad his side were.
In other West Ham news, Nigel Reo-Coker has fallen into the same trap regarding his stance on Moyes’ future.
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