David Moyes
West Ham United boss David Moyes has hit out at referee Peter Bankes and VAR official Simon Hooper after the Hammers’ 1-1 draw with Southampton on Sunday. Romain Perraud opened the scoring with a deflected effort from distance but, in the build-up to the goal, referee Bankes appeared to get in the way of West Ham winger Jarrod Bowen’s as he attempted to defend at the end of a long throw, with Tomas Soucek failing to clear at the first attempt. The goal was given without a check on VAR and Moyes was left baffled at the fact that the strike was given, suggesting that it was the reason between the Hammers winning and drawing the game.
David Moyes said: “How have we not got three points? The real reason is the referee, the referee gets in the way of the ability for us to defend. The ball comes out and Jarrod Bowen goes to get the ball and the referee blocks Jarrod Bowen from getting to it and the boy scores from it. Ridiculous, it really is. Wait until you see the angles and the pictures and you will soon see how terrible it is that he allows it to go on.”
Moyes spoke to officials about the incident, but was left more aggrieved at the fact his side did not win a first-half penalty when Tomas Soucek went down in the penalty box from a corner, after grappling with Perraud. The West Ham boss described the incident as a “judo” move and felt VAR official Hooper should go to glasses specialists Specsavers after not awarding the penalty.
David Moyes added: “I asked him about it, but I spoke to him more about the penalty kick. The penalty kick on Tomas Soucek is a judo move by the player who is marking him. There must be new rules in football, so you should check out the new rules which are that you can grab them right around the waist and you can hold them and then you can put them in a judo move, where you slam them down. He gets him and throws him right down, it’s unreal. It’s not the referee, it is VAR. Whoever was on VAR today needs to go to Specsavers, I’ve got to say.”
