UEFA have put card-happy Israeli referee Orel Grinfeld in charge of West Ham’s crunch UECL second leg clash with Gent.
After the stirring comeback in the 2-2 draw with Arsenal at the weekend, fans are hoping they have got their West Ham back.
The Hammers have endured a tough season as they battle to stay in the Premier League.
But in the Europa Conference League West Ham had a perfect 10 out of 10 record going into last week’s quarter-final first leg in Gent.
West Ham took the lead but were pegged back to 1-1. After a very disappointing performance, escaping with the draw was actually a positive result for David Moyes’ side.
UEFA put card-happy Israeli referee Orel Grinfeld in charge of West Ham’s crunch UECL second leg clash with Gent
If West Ham play anything like they did for 70 minutes against Arsenal they will be confident of blowing Gent away in the second leg at the London Stadium on Thursday nught.
But the Hammers will have to be on their best behaviour.
Because UEFA have put card-happy Israeli referee Orel Grinfeld in charge of West Ham’s crunch UECL second leg clash with Gent.
Before the first leg Moyes said he and his side had learned lessons from their issues with referees during their run to the Europa League semi-finals last season.
Aaron Cresswell was sent off twice while the manager was also dismissed in Frankfurt and received a ban as did captain Declan Rice for an angry rant at the referee.
Well the Scot needs to reiterate that warning to his players as Grinfeld is refereeing his first Conference League match of the season and loves dishing out a card or FIVE!
In 31 matches across all competitions this season, Grinfeld has issued a total of 154 yellow and red cards.
That’s an average of five per match.
In fairness to Thursday’s ref, only four of those cards have been straight reds.
The man overseeing West Ham’s crucial second leg against Gent took charge of two Conference League matches last season.
And he has officiated four Champions League and two Europa League games this season.
Last season Hammers News ran in-depth articles on the referees overseeing West Ham’s games and issued warnings to the team about the Frankfurt ref Jesus Gil Manzano that unfortunately proved prophetic.
Let’s hope Moyes and the boys take note of this one about Grinfeld.
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