Another two points dropped. Another ridiculous refereeing performance. What has happened?
A superb second half display looked as if we were taking three points away from the King Power Stadium and a vital three points in our quest for European football next campaign.
A well placed penalty from Andy Carroll and an absolute blinder from Aaron Cresswell saw us go 2-1 against Leicester City, but once again we were let down by a poor referring decision, which led to Leonardo Ulloa scoring last-gasp penalty.
These poor referring decisions against West Ham are getting beyond belief. The last 6/7 games have had influential decisions given against us. We have dropped vital points as a result and it has hindered our season.
But I would like to talk about the Leicester game in particular.
Firstly the referee was very inconsistent all game, issuing yellow cards without warnings and then warning other players 2-3 times.
Moss warned Huth and Morgan together multiple times before the penalty was actually given. I believe that the referee made a good decision by awarding West Ham a spot kick. On its own the foul itself wasn’t too bad, what the penalty was awarded for was the continuation of potential fouls in the box by Morgan and Huth.
The referee could have given a penalty on several previous occasions where the actual foul committed was alot worse than the one on this occasion, but nevertheless, the penalty was coming.
How could it not happen? West Ham getting a decision for us and not against us for the full 90 minutes? Of course not!
In the 94th minute, Schlupp goes darting into the box and Carroll comes across and makes a perfectly legal ‘shoulder-to-shoulder’ challenge on the full-back. Schlupp goes down like he had been completely wiped out from behind! The referee instantly reaches for his whistle and gives Leicester a late penalty. I completely agree with Carroll when after the game he said how the referee was trying to ‘even up’ the game by awarding Leicester a penalty.
Anywhere else on the pitch and that tackle was just a 50/50 battle with Carroll as the winner and as Jermaine Jenas said on Match of the Day, Carroll gave an opportunity for John Moss to award the penalty for something that wasn’t.
West Ham have had four ‘game changing’ decisions (red cards, incorrect decisions leading to goals) whilst a staggering 15 against them, more than any other team in the Premier League.
I believe that Jamie Vardy’s dismissal was very unfair as the challenge from which Vardy’s received his first booking was not dangerous or no contact was made until Kouyate (who had played the ball) tripped over the England foward’s boot.
However, I do think that Vardy could have been booked for a previous challenge before this and he rode his luck with a warning, so maybe this was justice served.
Vardy did deserve the second yellow as he did dive in search of a penalty as he forced himself into the path of Ogbonna.
This really is just another episode of West Ham’s rotten luck this season. But has this ‘rotten luck’ cost the cockney boys a place in European competitions?
Only time will tell…
If you would like to address any of these incidences directly to me, feel free to tweet me – @LouisFrench12 – or comment below.
