After Saturday’s draw against Crystal Palace, a lot of things can be said about the performances of West Ham and referee Mark Clattenburg.
The Durham-born referee showed a red card for Cheikhou Kouyaté’s challenge on Dwight Gayle. A lot of people will feel this was a harsh decision, as usually only a yellow card will be given for a tackle of such caliber.
When West Ham TV asked the Hammers boss Slaven Bi;ic about the decision to send off his player, he clearly disagreed with the referee, saying:
It’s kind of frustrating that it’s happened again. For me, it’s very simple to judge that situation. It’s nowhere near a red card and I think that anyone who had anything in any part of his life to do with football should say the same thing – there was no red card, no yellow card and it was in England not even a foul.
Despite the poor decision of the referee, Bilic said he was proud of his players:
I’m proud of the players, every time we play good football, especially when it comes together with passion and energy, I’m happy.
Crystal Palace took the lead after Adrian made a silly mistake to push the ball when he should’ve let the ball run its course and go out of play. By pushing it, he gave Delaney a free chance to head the ball in.
Manuel Lanzini quickly equalised, followed by a superb freekick by Dimitri Payet to beat Wayne Hennesey, whom put up a 7-man wall to stop Payet.
After Kouyaté’s red card, Dwight Gayle scored the second for the Eagles after a poor clearance by both Winston Reid and Angelo Ogbonna.
