Howard Webb admits West Ham United ‘error’ amid Manchester United controversy
Howard Webb believes it was an error to award West Ham a penalty against Manchester United for Matthijs de Ligt’s challenge on Danny Ings, according to The Times.
The newspaper reported to their online edition on Tuesday 5 November that the chief refereeing officer at PGMOL has voiced his opinion that a spot kick shouldn’t have been awarded.
On-field referee David Coote waved away claims of a foul by the Netherlands international before being called over to the pitchside monitor by video assistant Michael Oliver.
A penalty was eventually awarded, allowing Jarrod Bowen to win the game, ultimately resulting in Erik Ten Hag being sacked by the Red Devils.
Webb looks set to appear on the Premier League’s Mic’d Up programme next week where he is likely to discuss this moment as well as other controversial decisions from recent weeks.
Howard Webb admits to VAR error in West Ham v Manchester United
VAR has been in plenty of controversy ever since being added to the Premier League back in 2019 and this is just the latest chapter in the story.
The decision to award a penalty after Ings went down inside the Red Devils’ penalty area was seen as bizarre by many supporters but the home fans inside the London Stadium didn’t care.
Bowen converted the resulting spot kick and Julen Lopetegui took home a much-needed three points after a rocky start to the season.
This admission from Webb won’t have an impact on the Spaniard but the actions of VAR and PGMOL had a damaging effect on Ten Hag at Old Trafford.
The ex-Ajax boss was sacked from his role off the back of this defeat and now it has been admitted that the match-winning decision was a mistake.
Although this doesn’t have a direct negative mistake on the Irons, it is proof of how damaging errors by match officials can be on clubs, managers and players.
In other West Ham news, Ben Foster has reacted to the latest controversy, labelling what he saw as “rubbish”.
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