West Ham United supporters will be absolutely furious with the footage to emerge from their Europa League clash on Thursday night.
BT Sport posted footage from their coverage showing a replay of the Aaron Cresswell incident which saw the left-back shown a straight red card.
Should Cresswell have been sent off?
Yes
No
David Moyes was reduced to 10 men just minutes before half-time after it was deemed the 32-year-old denied the Lyon striker, Moussa Dembele, a clear goalscoring opportunity.
West Ham’s left-back was chasing Dembele who was bearing down on Alphonse Areola’s goal and Cresswell’s hand on the Frenchman’s arm proved enough to send the striker falling to the floor.
The referee did not take too long to decide Cresswell had done enough to warrant sending the Englishman for an early shower – much to the frustration of Moyes:
“The only thing I want to say about it is that I think the tackle on Jarrod Bowen leading up to it was a foul,” said Moyes who was booked for his protests towards the referee.
TIF Thoughts on the footage…
We can understand why West Ham fans may feel hard done by as it does seem extremely soft and in another angle there was another defender almost in line with Cresswell and Dembele. Also, the Frenchman can be seen winking at the camera which suggests he may have bought the red card in some way by making a bit more of the incident.
Yes, Dembele does appear to go down too easily, however, we all know if you give the forward the opportunity to go down in that position, many of them will take that opportunity.
The Hammers still find themselves well in the tie but they will no doubt miss Aaron Cresswell in the second leg, who has been influential in the final third with two goals and three assists this season, as well as solid in defence.
In other news: ‘On paper…’ – Ex-WHU star drops bold message ahead of EL clash