No VAR in the League Cup meant West Ham’s Mark Noble probably got away with one at Old Trafford on Wednesday.
The West Ham captain had a hold of old teammate Jesse Lingard and the attacker wound up on the turf inside the box.
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer joined Lingard in fury with Jon Moss, who couldn’t review his possible missed call, but it’s no surprise Noble had a different take after West Ham made an early Manuel Lanzini goal stand up.
“That’s football, he dived and I told him off for screaming,” Noble said after the game. “Funnily enough he didn’t really do it at our place but he does it here.”
Solskjaer was upset with both the call and a much-changed Man United’s failure to score at home against West Ham.
The Red Devils slipped past the Irons through a Lingard goal and Noble missed penalty at the weekend, but couldn’t find the same magic in the cup.
“Twenty-seven shots shows everyone gave it a good go,” Solskjaer said, via The Manchester Evening News. “Can’t fault the attitude at all. A little bit of good fortune could have gone our way and a little more quality, maybe a decision here or there we don’t seem to get at the moment.”
United had several penalty shouts, mostly from an embellishing Cristiano Ronaldo, at the weekend, but this call would’ve been far more legit than any post-match yells in London.
“It’s a clear penalty for Jesse again. Mark Noble falls and pulls him down. You can’t dwell too much on that.
I’ve never actually won this tournament, that hunt will have to keep going, because it’s a trophy I’d like to have.
But we have to make decisions to get the squad up to speed for the rest of the season, sometimes you have to make changes, take risks and we did.”—Agencies
