Michael Dawson has stated that Nemanja Matić should have seen a ‘red card’ for his off-the-ball challenge on Vladimír Coufal during West Ham United’s 1-0 win against Manchester United on Wednesday night in the EFL Cup, as he told Sky Sports (22/09/21 at 9:05 pm).
The former Premier League defender stated that the hard-hitting Man United player kneed the West Ham right-back ‘straight in the privates’ after clearing the ball.
When the incident happened, Coufal did hold his arms aloft but no card was given to Matic.
Given that VAR wasn’t in use in the game then it couldn’t be checked by those at Stockley Park.
It wasn’t a case of Matic going into a challenge in an aggressive manner and catching his man, but an off-the-ball incident from the player.
And this is what Dawson made of it all in the Sky studios.
“Matic is going to close Coufal down,” said Dawson. “I am not too sure what he is doing.
“He does really well (to clear the ball) and then he knees his straight in the privates. It has to be a red card.
“I am not too sure what he is doing? He just knees him. It’s a red card. He just gets a free-kick and the game plays on.
“West Ham don’t seem to be crazy. Certainly, with VAR, you would look at that and think, he has done him after the ball. So, it should have been a red card, in my opinion.”
After their heartbreaking and drama-filled defeat to West Ham on Sunday, David Moyes’ side proved their worth at Old Trafford last night.
Mark Noble made amends in the middle of the park with an outstanding display.
And Moyes, for the first time since being sacked by Man United, won at Old Trafford.
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