Former Hammer Joe Cole’s extreme description of what he saw in West Ham win over AZ Alkmaar after fan fury was spot on.
West Ham came from behind to beat Dutch side AZ Alkmaar 2-1 in the first leg of their Europa Conference League semi-final on Thursday night.
The Hammers went 1-0 down in shocking fashion when Alphonse Areola failed to stop a shot from distance after poor closing down from Tomas Soucek.
That came amid much controversy with West Ham’s players, manager David Moyes and 60,000 fans feeling there should have been a foul awarded on Lucas Paqueta seconds before.
‘Like prison’ Joe Cole uses extreme example to describe what he saw in West Ham win over AZ Alkmaar
The nudge on Paqueta would have been soft, but you see them given more often than not when a player leaves the ground to contest a header anywhere outside the box.
Before the game Hammers News warned West Ham about young card-happy referee Halil Umut Meler.
Because the 36-year-old has only overseen 23 games in all competitions this season prior to the West Ham vs Alkmaar game. But he had still somehow managed to dismiss eight players.
That’s one red card less than every three games on average. And Umit Meler had also handed out 101 yellow cards – an average of over four per match.
Well West Ham fans were furious with his officiating throughout with countless fouls on Hammers players ignored.
And Joe Cole used an extreme example to describe what he saw in West Ham win over AZ Alkmaar.
‘He was letting anything go’
‘Like prison’ was Cole’s comparison to what he saw unfold.
While Cole did not feel it was a foul on Paqueta, he likened the referee’s free-for-all approach to prison football where fouls go unpunished.
“Every ref has a style,” Cole said on BT Sport’s coverage.
“This ref was just letting everything go. At times it was almost like prison rules he was letting anything go. Anything.
“I’ve seen referees giving them (the nudge on Paqueta) all day. He’s tried to buy it Paqueta and I can sense the frustration in this crowd (towards the ref).”
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