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Manchester United suffered an embarrassing 1-2 defeat at the hands of a struggling West Ham in London on Sunday despite creating loads of chances in the first half.
The visitors should have scored a handful of goals in the first 45 minutes with Alejandro Garnacho guilty of spurning a couple of presentable chances created by Bruno Fernandes while Diogo Dalot’s miss will be remembered for years to come.
And since then, the Red Devils allowed their opponents into the game in the second half with Crysencio Summerville scoring the opener, which was cancelled out by Casemiro’s strike.
Controversy erupted late on when Matthijs de Ligt and Danny Ings collided in the penalty box. Initially it seemed like a 50-50 challenge and the hosts did not appeal too much and play went on.
Penalty controversy
Referee David Coote was initially not interested but VAR official Michael Oliver recommended an on-field check and the referee reversed his original decision and awarded a spotkick to the Hammers.
Jarrod Bowen stepped up after a lengthy delay and duly dispatched the penalty. The 20-time English league champions failed to equalise and were condemned to their fifth loss of the campaign and they have now failed to win 10 of their opening 14 games.
To add salt to Erik ten Hag’s wounds, the England international revealed at the end of the game that he did not feel it was a penalty at first.
But the lengthy delay meant a favourable decision was incoming and the winger did not make any mistakes from the spot.
Speaking to Premier League Productions, Bowen said, “At the time I saw [Danny] Ings got kicked and I think they got kicked so I thought it wasn’t a pen. I had a feeling it might get given and then Cre [Somerville] had the ball and it was a waiting game.
Bowen admits it was not a penalty
“With penalties you have a routine you know where you’re going. But when you’re waiting you’re thinking shall I go the other way? But I stuck with what I know and stepped up and wanted to dispatch and thankfully I did that.”
Plenty of pundits have also chimed in, criticising the refereeing decision while Ten Hag was furious at the end of the game, using expletives to make his point clear.
Despite the injustice and injury concerns, it is clear that INEOS are delaying the inevitable by not removing the manager who seems unable to reverse the team’s fortunes.
The team from Old Trafford are 14th in the table, just seven points off the drop zone and European football looks like a distant dream at the moment.
Feature image Eddie Keogh via Getty Images