Ole Gunnar Solskjær has suggested that Mark Noble was ‘lucky’ during West Ham’s 1-0 win over Manchester United in the EFL Cup on Wednesday night, as he told Sky Sports.
The Manchester United boss was making reference to Lingard claiming for a penalty and suggested that the West Ham man ‘can’t pull his shorts and his shirt when you on you way down’.
The incident happened in the first half when Lingard tried to chest the ball down, turn and face towards West Ham’s goal.
Instead, it was Noble who won the header, but the ball ended up going behind him and into Lingard’s path.
As Noble was trying to turn, he lost his balance and was on his way down when there was a small tug on Lingard’s shirt, who also ended up on the floor – whether it was enough to warrant a penalty, you decide.
But Solskjaer was in no doubt that it was a spot-kick and claimed that, after Noble was ‘unlucky’ on Sunday, he found his luck at Old Trafford last night.
“Rather not say too much,” said Solskjaer. “It’s a penalty again on Jesse. You can’t pull his shorts and his shirt when you are on your way down.
“But Mark was unlucky on Sunday and probably lucky with that one.”
Noble actually called out Lingard for ‘diving’ during that moment, so there’s the other side of the argument.
But either way, it’s not going to save Solskjaer from criticism because he has been knocked out of another cup competition.
There’s no doubt that West Ham deserved the victory and putting their name into the hat for the next round – it’s Manchester City up next for them.
And it would be fitting for them if Noble can end his career in West Ham colours with a trophy to his name.
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