Former Tottenham midfielder Jamie O’Hara has fumed at the decision to award West Ham a stoppage-time penalty against Manchester United on Sunday. The Hammers ran out 2-1 winners at the London Stadium but the contest was not half filled with controversy and drama – especially late on.
Despite dominating the first half and creating a number of clear-cut chances, United went behind after Crysencio Summerville put the Hammers in front. Erik ten Hag’s side responded to equalise through Casemiro, but handed West Ham an opportunity to go back ahead when the home side were awarded a spot-kick.
David Coote was sent to the pitch-side monitor after Matthijs de Ligt appeared to collide with Danny Ings inside the area and he overturned his initial decision to give West Ham a penalty. Jarrod Bowen struck home the resulting kick from 12 yards to secure all three points for Julen Lopetegui’s men.
There has been a lot of discussion over whether giving the penalty was the right call – and O’Hara has become the latest to deliver his stance on the decision. He told Sky Sports: “The ball bounces up and it’s a 50/50. Both have gone in for it, both have been a bit tentative but Ings is already on his way down. He is looking for the penalty and De Ligt doesn’t really catch him.
“None of them make a real contact on it and you see them things happen in the box all of the time. I think it’s really harsh. The referee hasn’t given that on the field and VAR has sent him over to the monitor. He has looked at that for a couple of minutes and thought: ‘Am I really giving a penalty for that?’
“I’m not having it, it’s re-reffing the game, the referee has seen it but he hasn’t given it. There is not enough contact and that is not a proper foul. It’s not clear and obvious and it’s not a massive error.”
Ten Hag, meanwhile, hinted that he didn’t think the referee and VAR made the right call. He told BBC Sport: “Before the season there was the instruction about VAR only interfering in clear and obvious mistakes. That is definitely not a clear and obvious mistake from the on-field referee.”