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LONDON — Erik ten Hag has slammed the “process” behind the controversial decision that saw Jarrod Bowen earn West Ham a 2-1 win over Manchester United at the London Stadium on Sunday.
United thought they had done enough to earn a point in east London before Video Assistant Referee (VAR) Michael Oliver recommended an on-field check for a penalty following a collision between Matthijs de Ligt and Danny Ings at the end of normal time.
While the contact between the pair appeared slight, referee David Coote agreed with the VAR’s recommendation to award the penalty that Bowen coolly dispatched to deepen United’s woes.
“So first of all, in football it is not always the best team winning, and today there was clear and obvious and clear and obvious wasn’t how the VAR worked,” Ten Hag said.
“How they worked, how they run their process. And before the season they explained the process of the VAR and only when it’s clear and obvious then they should interfere. So what they didn’t do against Spurs where they should have done it to interfere with the red card of Bruno [Fernandes]. There was a wrong decision and now they make again a wrong decision interfering and both has big impact on the scores of the games.”
Asked whether he felt Coote was more influenced in this case by Oliver’s standing as a more senior referee, Ten Hag said: “I don’t criticise any personnel, but I criticise the process and… The off-field was obviously, the VAR was Michael Oliver but also the on-field — you have to make a decision in the final moment. And he did I think three minutes to decide and to make this call. But then you have to show big personality to recall this decision.”
The defeat sees United slip down to 14th in the table after they were leapfrogged by West Ham. Ten Hag’s team have won just three of their first nine Premier League matches this season — something Ten Hag says is partly down to a lack of good fortune.
“In this moment, definitely the luck is not on my side [but] it’s not about me, it’s about the team, and it’s not on our side,” he said.
“And last season was not different, but in the end we turned this around and we are [were] so determined it would be the same case today.
“But we have to turn this around and it will turn around if we keep playing like we are playing now and, in this block — Brentford, Fenerbahce, today, we played really good football.”
United host Leicester City in the Carabao Cup round of 16 on Wednesday before facing Enzo Maresca’s in-form Chelsea team at Old Trafford on Nov. 3.