West Ham United’s 3-0 defeat to Brentford was not without refereeing controversy and Bees boss Keith Andrews revealed his players were talking about it after the game.
While the scoreline would suggest a reasonably routine victory for the Bees, there were a few flashpoints during West Ham’s bleak defeat to Brentford.
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Indeed, West Ham were unlucky not to have been given a penalty against Brentford when Pablo Felipe was brought down in the box, while Tomas Soucek also might have been awarded one.
Pablo and fellow striker Taty Castellanos, meanwhile, might have been sent off for challenges on another day.
Andrews believes some of the challenges flying in were “naughty”.
Brentford players seemingly unhappy with some of West Ham’s tackles
Speaking during his post-match press conference and asked if the two forwards were lucky not be sent off, Andrews said: “Yeah, there’s been a few comments in and around the dressing room. Around some tackles and some bits and bobs that were going on. I purposefully haven’t looked at it back.”
He added: “Yeah, there was a little bit going on. There was a little of big aggro, for sure.
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No pen on Soucek? Really?
“The fact I’ve been asked about it on a couple of occasions now probably suggests one or two of them possibly were a tad naughty.”
Interestingly, part of the reason why Castellanos was brought off against Brentford was because he was on a yellow card.
Only three West Ham players were actually given a yellow card, however. Castellanos was joined by Crysencio Summerville and Ollie Scarles in the book.
Premier League confirm why West Ham avoided red card vs Brentford
The Premier League also confirmed that a late challenge from Pablo was not punished because it was “deemed it lacked force and intensity.”
All in all, it was a thoroughly miserable day for the Hammers across in west London. They lacked composure in front of goal and were far too open defensively.
While a few calls went against them, they were perhaps lucky to have kept all eleven players on the pitch.
That could be crucial going forward. The only thing the team can do now is to dust themselves down and pretend the entire 90 minutes never happened.
The fact they have their full squad available for the rest of the campaign is their greatest strength. It is a luxury that relegation rivals Tottenham just do not have.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side can feel aggrieved about some decisions, but they can count themselves lucky – at least to a certain extent – that they did not get a red card.
They will need to ensure the pressure of the situation does not get the better of them going forward. There are three cup finals left and West Ham need all the help they can get.
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