Roy Hodgson was left fuming with the decision to send off Christian Benteke: "It was a ludicrous decision. Decisions like that ruin games of football. I'm bitterly disappointed to see Benteke sent off for two honest challenges."
Thursday 17 December 2020 07:56, UK
Roy Hodgson jumped to the defence of Christian Benteke after his red card against West Ham, calling the decision given by referee David Coote "ludicrous".
Benteke scored but was then sent off as Crystal Palace survived playing 20 minutes with 10-men in a 1-1 draw with West Ham.
Benteke went from hero to villain by picking up a second yellow card for an elbow on Tomas Soucek, having already picked up a booking for a similar challenge on Angelo Ogbonna.
Hodgson was left perplexed by the sending off.
"It was a ludicrous decision," he fumed.
"He only tried to use his arm for leverage and honestly win the ball. It's always likely to happen if both players are trying to win it.
"It's odd to sit here and say these things as if you're some monster who wants everything to go his way.
"Decisions like that ruin games of football. I'm bitterly disappointed to see Benteke sent off for two honest challenges."
As the decision was regarding a second yellow card, VAR wasn't able to review the incident.
"I found that out tonight, that was news to me," Hodgson added.
"Most importantly, it's a question of analysis and assessment of game situation - there's no guarantee that another referee will have a different assessment - but David Moyes and I agreed that there has to be some possibility of arms brushing people's faces in aerial challenges.
"I can't fathom his two yellow cards."
West Ham were, in the end, indebted to the brilliance of Sebastien Haller for taking a point during an underwhelming performance.
Vladimir Coufal provided the width from the right and his decent cross was made into a great one by Haller, who produced a spectacular overhead kick that flew into the top corner. Much maligned since his £45million move, Haller is now starting to repay some of that price tag.
Moyes said: "I wasn't that surprised by Seb's goal, he has an incredible ability and technique.
"I think one of the first goals he scored for me was a scissor kick, but it's the tap-ins I want to see him score as well.
"We need him to be a big part. We're missing Michail Antonio and we need someone to come up with the goods, and we got a wonder-goal from him."
