UNITED CASH IN ON DEAN GAFFE
Red card howler hits Hammers and offside Zlatan finishes the job
SOMETIMES it is worth looking at it from the referee’s point of view, but it does not always make any difference. Sofiane Feghouli had taken a poor touch on the ball and lunged in a futile bid to get it back. He was momentarily airborne and not in control of his body.
It happened quickly and, as Manchester United’s Phil Jones rolled away holding a shin, one wondered what contact had been made.
It turned out there had been very little. West Ham winger Feghouli had not arrived with his studs up, there was no intent to injure Jones and the Algerian was back on the ground by the time he arrived on the doorstep of his opponent.
So it was a foul, but not a bad one, nor indeed a malicious one — deserving of a yellow card at worst.
So referee Mike Dean got it wrong and in doing so he set the course of this important game United’s way. And that raises the question of how Dean could have given the decision. To produce a red card, you have to be sure — and how could he be? What did Dean see that nobody else did?
Dean is a flamboyant referee but not a bad one. His manner irritates and at times you wonder why he does not exist moreore happily in the shadows.
But this was not about that. This was about a bad callall made in haste. Itt was as simple as that and subsequent decisions only deepened the feeling that this was a Christmas and New Year game too far for Dean, neverr mind the playerss under his command.d.
Later in the first half, West Ham’s Havardavard Nordtveit clatteredred into Henrikh Mkhitaryan. It was reckless and ill-timed. The decision? No card.
Then, much later in the game, the home team’s Cheikhou Kouyate flew feet first over the ball towards the same player. It was a dreadful, dangerous challenge, the worst of the game by a mile. The decision? No card.
So there we had it. To add to Dean’s early mistake, we had a dose of that other great refereeing sin: inconsistency. How could he punish the first one and not the other two? Did he fear he had erred early on and did not want to over-react again? If so, that was the wrong response. Each decision should be made on its merits, regardless of what has passed. So, sadly, this was a test that Dean failed on every level. Then, near the end, linesman Simon Long threw in an offside goal for good measure.me The locals have nnot headed home haphappy from the Londodon Stadium too ofoften this season aand this time they were grumpy with good reason. Given the circumstances, West Ham did all right against a United tteam who did not pperform particulalarly well. To win witwith 10 men against a formfor team is a challengelenge thatt would prove too great for most, and eventually Slaven Bilic’s team caved in, done for by the pace and directness of teenage substitute Marcus Rashford down the left. Afterwards, Mourinho was sarcastic when asked about Dean’s decisions. He chose to talk about his own decision to introduce Juan Mata — scorer of the opening goal — at half-time. ‘ Thank you very much,’ he said in mock self-congratulation. What the United manager did accept, though, was that his team had not been great. He was right about that, but he won’t worry. For the first time in a long time, United have a team who feel they will win before they set foot on the field. That is a valuable trait.
At full-time, Mourinho strode on to the field and embraced his goalkeeper David de Gea. It was symbolic because, though the great Spaniard had not been busy, he had contributed one of the key moments of the game and his manager was right to recognise that.
Not much had happened in the first half. De Gea made two saves from long-range Manuel Lanzini shots, Antonio Valencia hit a cl o s e - range shot straight at West Ham goalkeeper Darren Randolph, and, even more remarkably, team- mate Jesse Lingard bashed the rebound straight on to a post from two yards.
It was just after the hour that the decisive moments arrived. Played through by Lanzini, Michail Antonio should have scored but his shot was hurried and De Gea saved with a knee. It was a very good stop but quite a poor goal attempt.
It felt important and that was how it turned out. Within two minutes, Rashford had burst down the left past Nordtveit and pulled the ball back for Mata to smash home first time.
It was a lovely goal but replays showed Antonio and Kouyate could have done more to track the scorer. When you only have 10 men, you have to try harder than that.
With half an hour left, it felt like United’s job was done. West Ham did not give up and were not short of energy. They were vulnerable on the break, though, and when Paul Pogba shot wide after further good supply work from Rashford, United came again to kill the game in the 78th minute.
It was an awful goal for West Ham as Pedro Obiang presented the ball straight to Ander Herrera on the edge of the penalty area. But it was even worse for linesman Long on the near side, who failed to notice three United players were offside when the Spaniard nudged the ball forwards.
One of them was Ibrahimovic and he scored his 13th Premier League goal of the season without fuss.
Ibrahimovic had been largely anonymous, but he struck. Again. He is making a habit of it and if United are to continue their progress they will need him to keep doing it.
For his part, Dean can only hope for personal improvement — but he may have to wait a while. After this, there is every chance he will be stood down next weekend.