West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini accuses Jason Tindall of trying to influence referee

West Ham drew 2-2 with Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday

Saturday 28 September 2019 21:27, UK

West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini has accused Bournemouth assistant manager Jason Tindall of attempting to influence referee Stuart Attwell during their 2-2 draw.

Pellegrini was angered by the behaviour of Tindall at the Vitality Stadium and expressed his displeasure to Cherries manager Eddie Howe as the two bosses met to shake hands after the match.

Howe claimed the exchange related to the game’s numerous VAR decisions, but Pellegrini disputed that version of events.

“No, I never talked about the VAR decisions. I talk about the assistant coach of him [Tindall], the complete game with the referee trying to pressurise in every decision,” said the West Ham boss.

“That’s all what I complain [about], not about the VAR. It’s his assistant. I think they don’t need it because they are a good team that play offensive football.

“I think Eddie has done very good work here – his assistant doesn’t need to do those kind of things because I don’t think it’s fair for the referee.”

When asked about the disagreement with Pellegrini, Howe had earlier said: “No, [it was] not heated, we were just discussing a few VAR calls. Everyone’s got their own different opinions to decisions, so there was no problem.”

VAR had intervened when Josh King's strike was initially disallowed for offside, cancelling out Andriy Yarmolenko's opener.

It was also consulted when Nathan Ake’s second-half goal was chalked off for an offside call against Dominic Solanke and again when King was denied a late penalty after going to ground following a tussle with left-back Aaron Cresswell.

But, the battling point came at a cost for the Hammers as goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski limped off with a hip injury in the 34th minute, resulting in a Premier League debut for back-up Roberto.

Asked about the Poland international’s condition, Pellegrini said: “Lukasz felt a problem in his hip, a muscle problem in his hip. We’ll see tomorrow with the medical examination what it is.”