Phil Thompson: Manchester United deserved two penalties in 2-1 win v West Ham
Phil Thompson was unhappy with the failure to award Manchester United two penalties in their 2-1 win over West Ham on Sunday.
The Red Devils stole the points late on via a Jesse Lingard strike, but before that, Cristiano Ronaldo had two appeals for a penalty turned down.
The first involved Vladimir Coufal, and the second Kurt Zouma, but the officials and VAR saw nothing untoward in the challenges.
Speaking on the ‘Where’s Jeff?’ podcast [23/09/21], ex-Liverpool defender Thompson was critical of those decisions, disagreeing after Matt Le Tissier and Charlie Nicholas voiced their support for the officials.
“Listen to you two clowns,” Thompson said.
“Both of them were nailed on for me. The two tackles were not good enough.
“He [Coufal] puts out that leg in the first one, I just think, he’s nowhere near the ball, he’s doing that to impede him.
“The second with Zouma, he’s not getting anywhere near that ball, he has every justification. I have to think [about] my own team and I would go absolutely beserk.”
Tale of penalties
One missed, and a few more not given, Sunday’s game was full of penalty talking points.
The one that was awarded, to West Ham in the dying embers of the match, was missed by Mark Noble, but the home side should surely have been given one much earlier at the London Stadium.
It seemed inconceivable that Tomas Soucek wouldn’t be awarded one after Aaron Wan-Bissaka clattered into him. Bizarrely, it went the other way, with a free-kick given.
But did Ronaldo deserve a couple? There may be an argument for the Coufal one – his left was out – but Ronaldo was certainly initiating contact, and that will not have helped his cause.
As it was, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side won the game, but West Ham wreaked their revenge at Old Trafford in the League Cup, just three days later.
In other West Ham news, Martin Tyler was furious with Manchester United after an incident involving an Irons player on Wednesday.
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