ERIK TEN HAG may as well pack his bags because he looks absolutely doomed.
The Manchester United manager, who should have witnessed one of the easiest wins of his Man Utd career, ended up getting shafted by VAR.
Ten Hag was left cursing when Michael Oliver, on VAR duties at Stockley Park, flagged up a loose leg from Matthijs De Ligt which caught Danny Ings although it looked like a coming together.
Referee David Coote spent two minutes to study the footage and to the disbelief of United’s players, awarded the penalty which Jarrod Bowen stuck away.
Ultimately, Coote was never going to over-rule a senior referee.
Although there were 12 minutes of injury-time played, United – who also claimed Ings handled the ball during the penalty incident- could not find the leveller on another day of disaster for Ten Hag.
United were in so much control in the first half, they should have led 5-0 at the break.
But West Ham’s Crysencio Summerville, who changed the game when coming on as a sub, scored his first Premier League goal before Casemiro equalised with a header.
But even so, no-one could have expected the drama at the end which did seem incredibly harsh on United.
Yet it should have been so different as United tore apart West Ham in the first half.
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Alejandro Garnacho could have scored twice in the opening eight minutes.
He rammed his first shot against the woodwork after 100 seconds and then should have done better with a second chance but his shot drifted wide.
Bruno Fernandes, enjoying a remarkable amount of space, should have capitalised on some more shambolic home defending.
He ran his time perfectly to find himself completely unmarked to meet Christian Eriksen’s floated cross but he rushed a header and it sailed over.
England’s interim manager Lee Carsley was at the game and with Thomas Tuchel not arriving until January, he will be in charge for next month’s game against Greece and Ireland.
Marcus Rashford, who has been completely frozen out of international football, is clearly struggling with his confidence.
Man Utd ratings vs West Ham
THE LONDON STADIUM was the venue for the latest defeat in a shocker of a season.
To be fair, it was a hugely controversial VAR call in the dying moments that handed West Ham a 2-1 win.
And the first half from the Red Devils was impressive.
Here’s how SunSport’s Jack Rosser rated the players…
Andre Onana – 6
Very loose with the ball at his feet early on but soon settled.
Manchester United conceded from West Ham’s first shot on target, though given Ings’ deflected strike there was little Onana could have done about it.
Diogo Dalot – 5
Delivered one of the most entertaining missed chances you will see all season – doing so well to clip the ball past Lukasz Fabianski before smashing the ball high and wide of an open goal.
Despite that, had little trouble from those in claret and blue attacking down his side until Summerville was introduced. The former Leeds man tested Dalot a number of times with his pace.
Redeemed himself a touch with the header back in ahead of Casemiro’s equaliser.
Matthijs de Ligt – 6
Hard done by in conceding the penalty for what looked a soft challenge on Hammers striker Ings.
Restricted West Ham well for the most part but United never looked entirely comfortable at the back and a more potent attack could have caused much more trouble.
Lisandro Martinez – 6
Struggled at times to deal with the strength and direct nature of Michail Antonio, who tested all across United’s back line well until he was replaced by Ings.
Noussair Mazraoui – 5
Struggled to keep a handle on both Bowen and former Manchester United man Aaron Wan-Bissaka for the most part and was thrown around by Michail Antonio at times.
Having looked soft at the back he also offered very little going forwards down the left.
Casemiro – 6
Started strongly dominating in the middle but struggled to wrestle that back when West Ham picked up.
Was denied a first half goal by Fabianski’s superb save but got one eventually as he refused to give up and made sure the ball.
Christian Eriksen – 5
Some flashes of creativity in the first half but could not help United keep control in the second after West Ham perked up.
Marcus Rashford – 4
Entirely absent throughout the hour he was on the pitch. Played down the right he was easily managed by Emerson Palmieri who had little of note to do before the winger went off.
Bruno Fernandes – 7
Caused huge problems for West Ham and created plenty of chances which his teammates put to waste.
Fernandes made a fine run to meet a Casemiro cross but headed over the bar and had to watch both Garnacho and Dalot pass up huge chances after his good work to set them up – especially the latter, a wonderful looped ball to cut out the entire West Ham defence.
Alejandro Garnacho – 5
The young winger should have had two goals inside the opening eight minutes. One chance was rattled against the bar before a poor finish sent the second wide of the far post.
He continued to cause trouble down the left but faded as the game went on and crucially gave the ball away in the build-up to Summerville’s goal.
Rasmus Hojlund – 5
Drew a couple of saves from Hammers keeper Fabianski but neither looked too difficult.
The Dane was rather comfortably dealt with by West Ham’s central defenders and never looked too much of a threat.
Substitutes
Amad Diallo – 6
Added some life and threat to a forward line which had offered little after the break and lifted a clever ball over to Dalot in the build-up to Casemiro’s goal.
Joshua Zirkzee – 5
Claimed an assist but did not know a lot about it and struggled to have an impact from there on.
Victor Lindelof – n/a
Unused subs: Altay Bayindir, Manuel Ugarte, Jonny Evans, Ethan Wheatley, Harry Amass, Jack Fletcher.
When clean through, he inexplicably ran the ball straight into keeper Lukasz Fabianski, who had replaced Alphonse Areola from the 4-1 stuffing against Spurs.
Fabianski was handed a huge let-off when he raced out of his area like a headless chicken even though he was never going to reach a ball over the top from Fernandes.
Unfortunately for United, it was Dalot who had found himself in this terrific position and while he nudged the ball beyond the Polish keeper, the defender’s finish from inside the area, with a completely open goal, was just embarrassing.
No wonder he put his hands on his head.
This also explains why he has only scored three times in over 100 Premier League appearances.
Although Fabianski was dodgy on that occasion, he delivered a decent reflex save to keep out a header from Casemiro just before half-time.
West Ham failed to create in the first half apart from Lucas Paqueta’s header which drifted over the bar.
Lopetegui made his triple half-time sub although both Kostas Mavropanos and Paqueta were on bookings.
And although they could not have been any worse, the Hammers did show a bit more purpose in the second half.
While Fabianski still had to push away a drive from Rasmus Hojlund, he was under much less pressure.
A £25million summer arrival from Leeds, Summerville has yet to see his career take off in east London but he did give West Ham a spark when replacing Paqueta in the second half.
And he was in the right place when he bundled in the opening goal. Ings had only been on the pitch for three minutes after replacing Michail Antonio and while the former Liverpool forward made a complete mess of trying to tuck away a pass from Jarrod Bowen, the ball fell perfectly for Summerville.
That was incredibly harsh on United but they did show some character when falling behind.
It came after a long ball from sub Amad Diallo with three headers, first Dalot, then sub Joshua Zirkzee and finally, Casemiro.
Yet incredibly, West Ham got lucky and got the late penalty thanks to VAR after Ings went down under the challenge from De Ligt.
As Bowen stepped up to take the penalty, it was announced there would be 12 minutes of added time.
But the England international coolly slotted the ball past Andre Onana and somehow, West Ham ended up winning.
VAR decision explained
The Premier League match centre explained the decision to award a penalty:
“The referee did not award a penalty to West Ham for a challenge by de Ligt on Ings.
“The VAR deemed there was sufficient contact on Ings’ lower leg and recommended an on-field review.
“The referee overturned his original decision and awarded a penalty.”