West Ham red card angers Jason Cundy, goes for ‘shocking’ referee
West Ham were held to a 1-1 draw by Lyon in the Europa League last night but the game was overshadowed by Aaron Cresswell’s red card.
Jarrod Bowen had put the Irons ahead early into the second half but former Tottenham midfielder Tanguy Ndombele pegged them back less than 10 minutes later.
Before that though, Cresswell was given his marching orders when he was accused of pulling back Moussa Dembele when he was bearing down on goal and Felix Zwayer, the referee, didn’t hesitate to bring out the red card.
TalkSPORT presenter Jason Cundy was triggered by the decision and did not hold back when discussing it live on air.
“I actually don’t even think it’s a foul,” Cundy said. “The referee was shocking.
“Everyone slaughters the referees we’ve got here in the Premier League but I think we’ve got the best refs in the world.
“They make mistakes and they make big mistakes at times but I see what goes on in the continent and the debacles of refereeing decisions.
“I honestly don’t think it’s a foul, let alone a red card. He touches his arm but does not drag him, does not pull him.
“Dembele goes over and cons the referee; he can’t wait to get his red card out.”
Two poor decisions
It wasn’t just Zwayer who made an error during that incident, Cresswell himself shouldn’t have even considered grabbing hold of Dembele as he was heading closer to the corner flag anyway.
He was never going to score with his next touch so the experienced Hammers left-back could have just let him run into the channel and got back into position.
As soon as he made contact with the Lyon striker, he gave the referee the chance to send him off and he duly obliged.
That doesn’t hide the fact that it was not the denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity so at most the German official should have brandished a yellow card if he deemed it to be a foul.
The Irons now have a big uphill battle to fight with victory needed in France next week if they are to advance to the semi-finals.
In other West Ham news, there is a Premier League rival prepared to break records to sign one of David Moyes’ main men in the summer.
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