Erik ten Hag slams VAR penalty call as Manchester United boss admits 'luck is not on my side'

Erik ten Hag believes the decision to award West Ham a late penalty in Manchester United’s 2-1 defeat on Sunday was the “wrong decision” and admitted his side are suffering from bad luck.

United are now 14th in the Premier League as a 2-1 defeat away to the Hammers piled more pressure on Ten Hag.

The game looked set to end 1-1 but Jarrod Bowen scored a late penalty which was awarded for a foul by Matthijs de Ligt on Danny Ings. On-field referee David Coote didn’t give it until VAR Michael Oliver suggested he go to the screen, where Coote then overturned his decision.

Asked whether he spoke to the referee after the game, Ten Hag replied: “Yes, I did. ‘Clear and obvious’ wasn’t how the VAR worked or how they ran their process. Before the season they explained the process and only when it’s clear and obvious should they interfere.

“When they didn’t interfere with the red card of Bruno [Fernandes] at Tottenham, that was the wrong decision — and now they make again a wrong decision interfering. Both have big impacts on the scores of the games.

“I’m not criticising any person, I’m criticising the process.”

United missed a number of clear-cut chances in the first half, and Ten Hag added: “The other impact was that we didn’t score. We created so many chances, played such good football. That’s how I want my team to play. We had six or seven 100 per cent chances we should have scored. I had not so many criticisms of my team apart from not scoring.

“In this moment, definitely the luck is not on my side. It’s not about me. It’s about the team, and the luck is not on our side. Last season was no different, but in the end we turned it around. It will turn around if we keep playing like we are playing now.”