West Ham denied draw at Stamford Bridge after referee Andy Madley ruled Edouard Mendy had been fouled; Moyes: "It was a ridiculously bad decision"; Hammers captain Declan Rice described the goal as the "worst VAR call" there's ever been; Thomas Tuchel felt the goal should have not stood
Sunday 4 September 2022 11:30, UK
West Ham manager David Moyes branded the decision to disallow a late goal for his side at Chelsea as 'a ridiculously bad decision' following their 2-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge.
Moments after Kai Havertz gave Chelsea a 2-1 lead, Maxwel Cornet struck what he thought to be an equaliser after a mix-up between Reece James and Edouard Mendy.
Referee Andy Madley was sent to the monitor by VAR Jarred Gillet at Stockley Park to have another look at Cornet's goal for an apparent soft challenge on Chelsea goalkeeper Mendy by Jarrod Bowen.
Madley ruled out the goal after looking at the monitor - much to Moyes' anger and bewilderment.
"It is a scandalous decision, absolutely rotten from one of the supposedly elite referees," Moyes told Sky Sports. "It doesn't say much about whoever sent him over from VAR as well. It is an unbelievable decision against us.
Chelsea counterpart Thomas Tuchel said "It was a clear foul on the goalkeeper."
Moyes continued his protests against the decision in his press conference, saying he has "lost faith" in the refereeing in the game and hitting out at Mendy for "faking an injury".
"The goalkeeper comes to take it and fumbles it out of his hands," said Moyes. "Then he acted as if it was a shoulder injury. I'm amazed that VAR sent the referee to the screen. It was a ridiculously bad decision.
"Today there is no excuse for that not to be a goal, none whatsoever. The sad thing is that this is the level of our elite refereeing at the moment.
"They've got new people in charge who are trying to do something. I've lost faith in them today in the people who are putting up for VAR. After watching it, I can't see how the goal was not given.
"The referees said they were going to cut back on soft challenges and that was unbelievably soft.
"Referees can make mistakes. I do not see that in a million years. I'm more embarrassed for the guy in VAR than the referee because that's telling me someone who doesn't understand football and shouldn't be near the game if that is enough to put someone near the screen."
West Ham captain Declan Rice agreed with his manager's assessment of the call, branding it as "one of the worst VAR decisions made since it's come into the game."
Moyes also paid particular reference to Mendy's involvement in getting the goal disallowed, with the West Ham manager claiming the Senegalese international deliberately faked a shoulder injury to get Cornet's effort chalked off.
"The goalkeeper tried to do the same thing with the first goal as well," said Moyes. "He faked a shoulder injury. It didn't stop him from playing the last 15 minutes or however long there was after that.
"Jarrod said he never touched the goalkeeper at all [for the second goal]. You can see it, he tries to jump him and straddle him. If there's anything there's just a trailing foot. The goalkeeper had already mishandled the ball and it moved four or five six yards and he couldn't recover."
When asked about the late VAR call in his own press conference, Tuchel said: "There's a reason it went in our favour. I don't know if everyone shares the opinion - it's a foul. The goal that we conceded in very similar in the build-up to the situation at Tottenham."
Tuchel also insisted that West Ham's first goal - scored by Michail Antonio - should have been disallowed.
When asked about the first West Ham goal, Tuchel said: "The second corner should never have been a corner. When the shot came from Bowen and we had the shot from Edu, it was a clear offside position from Antonio.
"I don't know how [it can be where] you can foul when you're in an offside position against a goalkeeper and get a corner. That was the build-up to the first corner, it was similar to against Tottenham but I stop talking."
