West Ham United were unlucky not to have been awarded at least one penalty during their defeat to Brentford, according to former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg.
While it would be foolish to suggest West Ham United lost 3-0 to Brentford due to bad luck alone, the fact that the Hammers did not get the rub of the green cannot be overlooked entirely.
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Indeed, West Ham saw one goal through Konstantinos Mavropanos ruled out due to a marginal offside call, while also hitting the woodwork three times.
Tomas Soucek should arguably have had a penalty in West Ham’s defeat to Brentford, and Clattenburg believes Pablo Felipe should have been awarded one too.
Pablo Felipe should have won a penalty during West Ham’s defeat to Brentford
The January signing did not cover himself in glory during the game, but should have been awarded a spot-kick, it seems.
A heavy touch in the penalty box saw Pablo chase the ball, only to be brought down in the box.
It is Clattenburg’s view that the West Ham forward should have been awarded a spot-kick.
Speaking exclusively to Hammers News, the former Premier League referee said: “West Ham could and should have had a penalty for a foul on Pablo Felipe inside the penalty box.
“Even though the Brentford defender slips while challenging the ball, he makes a clear contact on his opponent creating a trip which is a foul. If the defender slips while not challenging for the ball and the attacker creates the contact then I can understand why a penalty would not be given.”
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He does, however, admit that he was not surprised the decision not to give a penalty was not overturned by VAR.
“With the high bar of intervention of VAR in the Premier League, I was not surprised that there was no recommendation of a review and I believe this type of challenge should stay on the field of play.”
A few calls did not go West Ham’s way on Saturday afternoon. Still, they must look at themselves.
Both Pablo and fellow forward Taty Castellanos proved ineffective on the day, while the defensive solidity upon which West Ham have built their recent rise was profoundly lacking.
The Irons were clearly unlucky on a few fronts, but that does not mean their defeat was any great injustice.
Teams in such a perilous position need to create their own luck. That is the position they have got themselves in over 35 games thus far.
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