The Blades score latest Premier League goal on record with 103rd-minute penalty to draw 2-2 with West Ham; Moyes felt his goalkeeper Alphonse Areola was fouled in the incident and said "we are settling for a level of officiating" in the Premier League
Monday 22 January 2024 09:48, UK
West Ham manager David Moyes claims teams are accepting poor refereeing as the norm after his side conceded the latest-ever Premier League goal in their 2-2 draw at Sheffield United.
The Hammers were on course for a win when James Ward-Prowse's 79th-minute penalty put them 2-1 up, after Ben Brereton Diaz's debut goal for the hosts had cancelled out Maxwel Cornet's opener.
But, in the eighth minute of time added on, referee Michael Salisbury pointed to the spot after ruling Hammers goalkeeper Alphonse Areola had fouled Oli McBurnie and a further five minutes later, with the injured Areola replaced by Lukasz Fabianski, the Blades striker coolly converted.
Moyes did not directly criticise Salisbury, other than suggesting Areola was the player fouled, but said there is now a level of apathy towards the standard of referees.
"I am certainly not going to talk about any referees, for sure I don't want to get myself into trouble," he said.
"You should ask the referee and see what they think, we have got to the stage where we are settling for a level of officiating where we are all shrugging our shoulders and saying, 'OK'.
"We are shrugging our shoulders again and seeing what they do. We don't know what they are going to do."
On whether Areola receiving lengthy treatment and having to be taken off meant he was the one fouled, Moyes added: "Absolutely, he was fouled. I think it was a foul on the goalkeeper."
Moyes' comments come on the day it was reported Nottingham Forest have written to the head of Premier League referees to ask for clarity, after Nuno Espirito Santo's side felt aggrieved by the nature of Brentford's first goal on Saturday.
Ivan Toney was seen to move the ball - and the referee's vanishing spray - to the right of where it had originally been placed following Orel Mangala's foul on Mikel Damsgaard on the edge of the Forest box. Toney went on to curl his free-kick wide of the Forest wall and in at the near post. Forest ended up losing the game 3-2.
Asked about the controversial moments in the game, Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder saw some of the decisions differently to Moyes.
"The penalty on Danny Ings, clumsy challenge. Nothing really in it," he said. "Brewster's tackle - I'll see it one way others will see it the other. When we played Brentford we had one 10 times worse on Vinicius Souza.
"The goalkeeper [Areola] comes and makes a rash decision and we get the penalty.
"The late West Ham penalty appeal? I didn't think there was anything in that."
Moyes had just as much frustration with his own side, who were not at their best at Bramall Lane. "My team's performance was so poor today. Maybe my worst," he said.
Cornet's first Hammers goal at the 31st attempt put them ahead but Brereton Diaz levelled on the stroke of half-time.
Ward-Prowse's penalty restored West Ham's lead as the Blades' Rhian Brewster and West Ham's Vladimir Coufal were both sent off in added time for separate incidents before the real drama happened.
Wilder could not watch McBurnie slot the ball home but was pleased with his side's staying power.
"I am delighted my team stayed in the game because with 10 men, and them passing it around, it could have gone from two to three," he said.
"The attitude of the team has helped us stay in the game.
"The goalkeeper comes and makes a rash decision to come through and we get the penalty. I am delighted we got something from the game, that is my overriding emotion.
"I didn't watch the penalty, I just saw the reaction of the crowd. It is just one of those - I do sometimes watch, not in the 103rd minute."
