West Ham United infuriate Marco Silva in win v Fulham, he needs to learn
West Ham United secured a second successive Premier League win on Sunday (9 October) as they put three past Fulham at the London Stadium.
Andreas Pereira had put the Cottagers ahead after just five minutes but he quickly undid his own good work by hauling down Craig Dawson at a corner.
Jarrod Bowen tucked home the spot-kick but Fulham boss Marco Silva was enraged with the second Hammers goal when he thought Gianluca Scamacca handled the ball prior to lobbing Bernd Leno.
“It’s a difficult moment for the referee, definitely,” Silva said, as quoted by the Evening Standard. “In open play I didn’t see it and of course for him it’s tough to see as well.
“But he was so embarrassed, like myself, when he saw it on the screen. It’s difficult for him to say something more. The decision came from someone on the VAR and he has to respect that decision but I saw on his face when I spoke to him after the match that he was embarrassed because he saw it on the screen like I saw it and everyone saw it as well.”
Get over it
If there was a genuine reason for VAR to overturn Scamacca’s goal, then it would have done and Silva should know this by now having managed so many Premier League games with the technology in place.
The Italian international was close to handling the ball but there is no way to prove either way whether there was contact so VAR has to go with the onfield decision.
For a definitive answer to be found, football would have to adopt the ‘Snicko’ and ‘Hot Spot’ technology used so effectively in cricket and even that is not right 100 per cent of the time.
David Moyes won’t be at all worried about the decision made by Chris Kavanagh and then VAR because his side was by far the better in the grand scheme of things.
Michail Antonio completed the scoring in stoppage time for West Ham after a calamitous moment in defence for the visitors which should be the real worry for Silva, not the officials.