A young Turkish ref who’s dished out eight red cards in his last 23 games will take charge of the West Ham clash with AZ Alkmaar.
West Ham unofficially secured Premier League survival with a 1-0 win over Manchester United on Sunday night.
And that means full focus and attention can be given to the huge European semi-final with AZ Alkmaar over the next two weeks.
The Hammers welcome the Dutch side to the London Stadium for the Europa Conference League semi-final first leg on Thursday night.
David Moyes and his rejuvenated West Ham side then travel to Holland for the second leg a week later.
Moyes vowed Hammers will learn from bad experience with officials in last season’s semi-final
It is a second consecutive European semi-final for West Ham. And the manager is hoping he and his players have learned lessons from the defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in last season’s Europa League.
Before the quarter-final against Gent 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.
Ill-discipline and some questionable officiating cost West Ham dear against the Germans.
And the Hammers will need to be on their guard again for the first leg against Alkmaar it seems.
Young Turkish ref who’s dished out eight red cards in his last 23 games to take charge of West Ham clash with AZ Alkmaar
Because a young Turkish ref who’s dished out eight red cards in his last 23 games to take charge of West Ham clash with AZ Alkmaar.
UEFA have put Turk Halil Umut Meler in charge of West Ham vs AZ Alkmaar at the London Stadium on Thursday night.
He is just 36 and has only overseen 23 games in all competitions this season. But he has still somehow managed to dismiss eight players.
That’s one red card less than every three games on average. And Umit Meler has also handed out 101 yellow cards – an average of over four per match.
West Ham be warned as UEFA put red-card happy ref in charge of semi-final clash
He will be assisted compatriots Mustafa Eyisoy and Kerem Ersoy.
Italian official Paolo Valeri will be on VAR duty for the first leg at West Ham, assisted by the Turkish Abdulkadir Bitigen. And an Italian will be fourth official – Maurizio Mariani.
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 Halil Umut Meler.
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