David Moyes has accused the VAR of showing “disrespect” towards West Ham over the controversial decision not to award his side a penalty late in their 2-1 defeat to Liverpool.
The Hammers’ recent resurgence took a dent as goals from Cody Gakpo and Joel Matip saw the Reds come from behind to win at the London Stadium.
Lucas Paqueta’s superb goal had given the hosts the lead and only a tight offside call against Jarrod Bowen prevent the Irons from going back ahead after the break, but it was VAR’s lack of intervention when Thiago Alcantara appeared to handle inside the box late on that left Moyes furious.
VAR Neil Swarbrick deemed the incident not worthy of a pitchside review on the basis that the Spanish midfielder had been breaking his fall after sliding to block Danny Ings’ pass, but Moyes’s fury was not eased by the explanation.
“You’ll probably hear them coming out with some rubbish about he needed to break his fall but if you lunge it’s your own fault for lunging and being out of control in the tackle,” Moyes said.
“You can break your fall by sliding and having to put your arm down but when you lunge for the ball, for me, that completely nullifies anything they’re talking about breaking your fall.
“I think it’s a penalty kick. I think the hardest thing to take is the disrespect from VAR, that VAR wouldn’t have at least said to the referee that this might be worth having a look. That tells me they don’t see that as even close to a decision. I’m surprised.
“Somebody in VAR didn’t have enough football knowledge to understand that this could be close.”
"For [the referee] to be so sure that that wasn't a handball and not even go and check it..."
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 26, 2023
David Moyes was not happy that West Ham's penalty appeal was turned down 😬 pic.twitter.com/MBeQdzTEOT
The Hammers remain five points clear of the relegation zone – with a game in hand on some of their rivals – and will have the chance to extend that cushion when they travel to Crystal Palace in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off.
Moyes, however, has insisted his team are far from safe and admitted his concern at missing out on what might have been a valuable draw.
“They might need to apologise to the football club because we’re trying to get points to be a Premier League team,” he added.
“The handball rule has changed dramatically and I don’t like a lot of it, to be fair. Do I think the boy meant, tonight, for it to hit his hand? No I didn’t. But he got his hand in the way of a ball going through made by his own actions.”
