What We're Reading
Allardyce: Linesman Stole 'Famous Victory' from West Ham
- Sky Sports, Thursday, April 18, 2013 12:17 PM
West Ham coach Sam Allardyce accused the linesman of costing his team a “famous” victory against Manchester United at Upton Park on Wednesday night after the teams drew
2-2. West Ham went in front twice against the Premier League leader but United found a response each time. However, replays show that before scoring United’s second, Robin Van
Persie was offside as Shinji Kagawa’s strike hit West Ham’s left post. Though the Dutch international coolly put away the rebound, the play should have been
brought back.
After the game, Allardyce was furious with the referee Lee Probert and his linesmen. "The team has played the best they can play and they have scored one of
the best goals of the season and the assistant referee takes [the win] away from you," he told Sky Sports 2. "It's a bit difficult to take, that's their job, it's their job to give the offside
decisions that appear in front of them. This is a blatant one, this is not a position he should or shouldn't be in. He can see Van Persie is two yards offside, he should put his flag up, he
doesn't.”
Nevertheless, Allardyce hailed his players. "It's a fantastic performance by the team, outstanding performance in fact,” he said. "They get rubbished, some of our
players, for the type of football they play because of me and I do think that's a disgrace because they have shown everybody how good they are today."
Meanwhile, Manchester United coach Sir Alex Ferguson
wasn’t happy with the referees, either. He thinks West Ham striker Andy Carroll should have been sent off just before halftime for fouling goalkeeper David De
Gea. “It's an obvious red card but the referee has seen it differently,” Ferguson said.
