David Moyes believes West Ham United are owed an apology after being denied a dramatic late penalty in defeat to Liverpool.
The Hammers were adamant they should have been awarded a spot kick after the ball struck substitute Thiago Alcantara on the hand inside the area during the 2-1 Premier League loss at the London Stadium on Wednesday evening.
Referee Chris Kavanagh waved away home appeals while VAR Neil Swarbrick ultimately saw no reason to invite the official to take a second look on the pitchside monitor.
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And Hammers boss Moyes said: “What do I make of the referee? Nothing much. I only had one chance to have a look at it, and I didn’t have a chance to see it before I spoke to the referee.
“You will probably hear them coming out with some rubbish about (the player) having to break his fall.
“Well, if you lunge at the ball you know it's your own fault for lunging and being out of control in the tackle. You can break your fall by sliding down and having to put your arm down but he lunged for the ball. For me that completely nullifies anything about breaking the fall. I think it’s a penalty kick.
“I think the hardest thing is the disrespect from VAR. That VAR didn’t have at least said take a look, that’s them saying they don’t think it is a close decision.
“A lot of football people have seen a lot worse (handball decisions given) than that recently. Somebody in VAR didn’t have enough football knowledge to know that was close. Whoever it was chose not to send the referee.
“They need to apologise to the football club. We need to win points to say in the Premier League.”
Moyes added: “Do I understand the handball rule? I think I do right now, yeah. I think I’ve had enough games, played enough games and I know it happens. By the way, the handball rules has changed dramatically and I don’t like it.
“Do I think the boy meant to hit the ball with his hand? I don’t. But it is his decision that he lunges. I totally understand breaking your fall, all those words, but he lunged at the ball. It means his arms were out. He has to take responsibility for his actions.”
West Ham led early on through Lucas Paqueta, but the strike was swiftly equalised by Cody Gakpo before Joel Matip headed Liverpool’s winner midway through the second half.
And Moyes said: “I thought we played well tonight. I thought we did a really good job. It was a really tight game. I thought we gave away two sloppy goals. The first we could have blocked, the second one we are pretty good at corners but tonight we got outdone on it. We had other close calls that went against us. I can’t complain with how the players performed at all.”
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