Micah Richards explodes after latest West Ham United controversy v Sheffield United
Micah Richards was left shocked by the decisions made in the Premier League clash between West Ham and Sheffield United on 21 January and has hit out at the referees in a new rant.
The former Manchester City defender insisted the penalty given to Sheffield United for a foul on Ollie McBurnie should not have been awarded, while Anel Ahmedhodzic’s foul on Jarrod Bowen should have been.
Richards questioned the consistency of the refereeing decisions, claiming you never know what will be given as one week the referee will award a decision one way, and the next it’ll go the opposite way.
Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast [22 January] Richards ranted: “Can we talk about the decisions? There were some appalling decisions in this game. There was the Hamer foul on Ings for the penalty, that was a penalty, and we agree on that.
“Areola into McBurnie, that has never been a foul in the history of football. Ahmedhodzic on Bowen – he’s got two arms around him and the penalty was never given. Of course, they look at everything VAR, but it wasn’t given. What is going on?
“It’s ridiculous now, it just annoying now. Us, as pundits, we see one decision and we can agree on what their thinking was, but the next week it’s completely different. There’s zero consistency throughout the decisions.”
A never-ending debate
With a new debate raging every single week in the Premier League, the conversation surrounding VAR, referees, and the standard of officiating in the country feels like it will never end.
Some strange decisions are given every week, and they are often decisive in games as we saw at Bramall Lane, when a bizarre penalty was handed to Sheffield United while the Hammers were denied what looked to everybody else on the planet bar the officials like a stonewall decision.
Fans are left in a constant state of confusion and frustration, never able to predict what will or won’t be given whether it’s in favour of their team or against them, and the constant conversation around VAR is beginning to become tedious.
For referees to dominate the headlines following every weekend of football deflects completely from what football is all about. It has become a game decided by dubious decisions by three men miles away rather than individual or collective quality from the 22 players on the field.
In other West Ham news, Lucy Ward has told the Hammers what they need in the transfer market.
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