Mad As A Coot Ref Watch For Irons Against Blades
Reading media reports about the 1-1 draw between West Ham United and Sheffield United it appears that people saw two different matches, why there has not been more mention about the referee's performance, or the lack of the use of VAR on at least three occasions is symptomatic of a let's have a go at Pellegrini agenda getting in the way of the truth.
Anyone who had to endure the chaotic London Overground system before the match, played out in a miserable mist, will tell you the atmosphere was really good, but that the slippy conditions made a lot of passes, from both teams, go astray. On another day Hammers could have scored five goals, having been denied two blatant penalties, on another day had it not been for Roberto in goal, it could have been a 3-1 defeat.
Following on from the perceived versions of the game, for some reason Roberto is being blamed by certain sections of the media for conceding the away team's goal too easily, perhaps they were still trying to get in to the stadium when Roberto pulled off a world class double save! The Hammers topper also made a couple of other really decent saves and his distribution is getting better with each game, people should get off his back!
Criticising the referee is not something we normally do here at the Org, but the ref was atrocious, it can only be assumed the size of the stadium and the crowd got the better of him, he must also have been hypnotised ahead of the game in order to ensure that Sebastian Haller could get fouled on a constant basis, without sanctioning any of the opposition players at all, it is the only explanation as to why he allowed so many Sheffield United fouls to go unpunished.
Sheffield United are unbeaten on their travels so far this season, so a draw, whilst not the best result, wasn't a tragedy. Manuel Pellegrini will no doubt come under a lot of criticism, he's the manager, it's his job, and yes some of his decisions have been questionable, but at the end of the day there are a bunch of extremely highly paid athletes out on the pitch to perform, it is to them people should look first.
Having said that, substituting Anderson was a strange decision, at least the timing of it, because he appeared to be one of the best performers in the claret and blue all afternoon. The general Fabian Balbuena was also a reassuring presence in a defence that was stretched to the limit by the visitors energetic style of play, for some reason he seems much less an accident waiting to happen than Angelo Ogbonna.
Next up is the visit of Newcastle United, who are equally capable of being brilliant one match and awful the next, Hammers have had two under par matches, but this draw should have put the brakes on the negativity that had grown following the defeats to Palace and Everton, there are reasons to be cheerful, it just depends where you look! There is no point in mentioning the VAR as it didn't exist- Ed
