West Ham’s excellent performance against Liverpool on Monday night was marred by the poor quality of the officials. The bemusing decisions that were given in favour of the away side have not sat well with Hammers fans.
In the build-up to Liverpool’s first goal, James Milner was in a clear offside position. This occurred directly in front of the assistant referee but there was no flag and Liverpool proceeded to take a 1-0 lead.
West Ham also felt aggrieved by the lack of consistency applied by the referee. An incident where Ryan Fredericks was pushed over by Sadio Mané wasn’t called a foul. Yet, a few moments later, Mane took a theatrical tumble from Fredericks’ pressure and a free-kick was given.
(Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
It could have been even worse when the assistant referee failed to flag Divock Origi offside. With the last kick of the game, the Belgian could have won it for Liverpool. Thankfully, he shot straight at Fabianski. Even still, the forward was at least one yard offside and it is a clear error on behalf of the officials.
West Ham fans have been venting their frustrations on Twitter. Check out what some of them had to say about the officiating team here:
Klopp now claiming the ref 'evened' up the game by giving West Ham the free kick which led to our goal.
Fine him @FA
— Wᴇsᴛ Hᴀᴍ Sᴏᴄɪᴀʟ (@WestHamSocial) February 4, 2019
Refs against West Ham, anything new?
— kalle🇫🇮 (@Arnaxtovic) February 4, 2019
Almost another offside goal/chance for Liverpool !!! – the 2 linesman & ref have been poor tonight. Well done West Ham.
— Gary Mitchell (@Hammers71) February 4, 2019
West ham cheated. Ref was a clown lad
— Stevie P (@SteviePilling) February 4, 2019
Klopp has the nerve to blame the ref for giving West Ham decisions after their offside goal unbelievable but sums it up ⚒⚒⚒
— Mark 父 Smith (@ironworks68) February 4, 2019
They really tried to make it up to us in the last minute when they didn't flag Origi offside.
— Raymondo (@rayjwright) February 5, 2019
