Erik Ten Hag Searches For Black Goats, Appoints VAR Biang Keladi Manchester United's Defeat

JAKARTA - Erik ten Hag criticized VAR behind the controversial decision that made Jarrod Bowen give West Ham a 2-1 win over Manchester United at London Stadium on Sunday, October 27, 2024.

The Red Devils thought they had done enough to get a point in east London before VAR referee assistant Michael Oliver recommended field inspections for penalties following a collision between Matthijs de Ligt and Danny Ings at the end of normal time.

Although the contact between the two seemed light, referee David Cotte agreed with VAR's recommendation to give a penalty that Bowen calmly executed to deepen Manchester United's suffering.

"So, first of all, in football it's not always the best team that wins. Today is clear and not how VAR works."

"The way they work, the way they run the process. Before the season starts, they explain the VAR process and only after it's clear and real they can interfere."

"So, what they didn't do to Spurs, what they should have done to interfere in Bruno's red card (Fernandes)."

"It was the wrong decision and now they are making the wrong decision again, interfering, and both have a big impact on the match score," Ten Hag said as reported by ESPN.

There was an allegation that the main referee, Cotte, was afraid and influenced by Oliver, who was a more senior referee.

However, Ten Hag tried to be objective When asked if he thought Cotte was more influenced in this case by Oliver's position as a more senior referee, Ten Hag said:

"I'm not criticizing personally, but I'm criticizing the process. What's off the pitch is clear, VAR is Michael Oliver, but also the one on the pitch."

"You have to make decisions at the last moment. I think he did it for three minutes to decide and make this decision."

"However, then you have to show a great personality to remember this decision," said the Dutchman.

The defeat made Manchester United fall to 14th position in the 2024/2025 Premier League standings after they were overtaken by West Ham.

Ten Hag's men have won just three of the first nine Premier League games this season, something Ten Hag says is partly due to a lack of luck.

"Right now, luck is clearly not on my side, but it's not about me, it's about the team, and this is not on our side."

"Last season was no different, but in the end we turned things around. We (previously) were so determined that the same thing would happen today."

"However, we have to turn things around and this will change if we continue to play as we are now. On this schedule against Brentford, Fenerbahce, and West Ham, we played very good football," Ten Hag said again.

Apart from that, Manchester United hosted Leicester City in the last 16 of the Carabao Cup on Thursday, October 31, 2024, before facing Chelsea's team who were in the best form at Old Trafford on November 3, 2024.