Trevor Sinclair wants Manchester United punished for ‘disrespect’ to West Ham
Trevor Sinclair is adamant Manchester United showed a lack of respect to West Ham with their starting XI in the defeat to Leicester City on Tuesday night.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made ten changes from the side that beat Aston Villa 2-1 on Sunday as the Red Devils boss tried to manage the intense fixture pile-up, with three games in five days.
Leicester ran out 2-1 winners at Old Trafford and look to have all but sealed their Champions League spot next season.
Ex-Hammers hero Sinclair told talkSPORT that Solskjaer’s line-up was “disrespectful and it takes away from the top four race.”
He added: “I honestly feel the way they put out this team, the way they didn’t safeguard their stadium, I think a six-point deduction should be given to Manchester United.”
Sinclair also later appeared on talkSPORT’s White & Jordan show [10:00, 12/05/21] where he responded to callers who aired their frustration at his claims.
He said, “They [Manchester United] conceded the league. Did you not feel like the club conceded the slim chance they had of winning the Premier League and catching Manchester City?”
A Manchester United fan hit back, “You are so Manchester City it’s embarrassing, your views are ridiculous.”
“This doesn’t affect Manchester City,” Sinclair replied.
“This affects West ham, Tottenham and Liverpool.”
Split loyalties
We’re not sure where Sinclair’s loyalties lie here as a former player of both Manchester City and West Ham, but we think it’s a pretty farcical claim to demand a points deduction.
A Leicester win has dealt a huge blow to our top four hopes as we now sit eight points behind them with only three games remaining, while Chelsea are one place and two points further behind the Foxes and look formidable at the moment.
Our hearts sunk seeing the line-up Manchester United put out last night as we knew the game was there for the taking for Leicester.
But what option did Manchester United really have?
The actions of their fans, whether people think it’s right or wrong, wasn’t the faults of the players and staff and they were handed the impossible task of being told to play three games in five days.
Playing a full-strength side in all of those games would be extremely dangerous, so they had to make some concessions.
It’s frustrating from our point of view because it was a game that Brendan Rodgers’ side could potentially drop vital points, but we can’t harangue other teams for things out of their control.
Champions League looks like a distant dream right now, but a Europa League berth would still be an outstanding reward for a sensational season.
In other West Ham news, Irons line up ‘Unbelievable’ £20m-rated PL playmaker as Jesse Lingard replacement.
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