David Moyes claimed the level of officiating has plunged so low that no one knows what referees are “going to do”, after chaotic scenes in stoppage time at Bramall Lane. The West Ham manager was unhappy at the referee, Michael Salisbury, awarding a late penalty to Sheffield United, scored by Oli McBurnie in the 103rd minute, before refusing to give Jarrod Bowen a penalty at the other end 60 seconds later.
McBurnie’s equaliser made it 2-2 for Sheffield United and, when Bowen and Anel Ahmedhodzic came together in the hosts’ area a minute later, Salisbury’s decision incensed Moyes, who also believed his goalkeeper, Alphonse Areola, had been fouled in the buildup to McBurnie’s spot-kick. Moyes said: “I’m certainly not going to talk about any referees. I don’t want to get myself in trouble. You should ask the referee [about these decisions]. We’ve got to a stage now where we are settling for a level of officiating where we are all shrugging our shoulders and saying: ‘OK.’ I’m shrugging my shoulders again, we don’t know what they are going to do.”
Before McBurnie scored, Moyes replaced Areola, who required treatment, with Lukasz Fabianski. “I thought it would be better to put someone in who wasn’t dazed,” the Scot said. “Absolutely, he was completely fouled. I think it was a foul on the goalkeeper.”
West Ham twice let the lead slip. McBurnie’s goal cancelled out James Ward-Prowse’s 79th-minute penalty, while just before the break Ben Brereton Díaz equalised Maxwel Cornet’s opener. Moyes was also unhappy at the display.
“My team’s performance was so poor. Maybe the worst [ever]. It was a throwback game, long throws, free‑kicks, balls in, and we had to deal with it. But we never passed it well.”
In added time Rhian Brewster was shown a red card for a heavy challenge on Emerson Palmieri. Salisbury initially booked the striker before consulting the VAR monitor. Vladimir Coufal was also sent off for two yellow cards. The draw leaves Chris Wilder’s team on 10 points, seven from safety after 21 games.
The Blades’ manager struck a defiant note. “There has to be a fighting spirit. It’s a ruthless, relentless league that kills you if you show the white flag,” Wilder said.
Ahead of McBurnie taking the penalty James McAtee held the ball to suggest he would take it. This was deliberate. “The keeper was going to be down for a long time and we understood from a psychological point of view with a lot of people being in that area,” he said. “They were smart between them. Oli still has to stick it in.”
