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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Neil McLeman

David Moyes demands VAR apology over "disrespect" after late penalty denied vs Liverpool

David Moyes demanded an apology from referee chiefs after accusing VAR of showing “disrespect” to West Ham for denying a late penalty.

Referee Chris Kavanagh refused to award a spot kick when the ball struck Thiago Alcantara’s arm when he challenged Danny Ings in the box. VAR official Neil Swarbrick chose not to intervene because the Spaniard was judged to be falling and the ball hit him at close range.

Former Hammers defender James Collins told BBC Radio 5 Live: “It's a stonewall penalty.

The Hammers received an apology from the PGMOL in September after a Maxwell Cornet goal was disallowed in September.

Moyes, who angrily confronted Kavanagh at the end, said: "I think it’s a penalty kick. You will probably hear them coming out with some rubbish like: ‘He needed to break his fall’.

"Well if you lunge at the ball, it’s your own fault for lunging and being out of control in the tackle. He lunged at the ball and his arms are out and it hits his arm.

"He has to take responsibility for his actions. Did I think the boy meant it to hit his hand? No he didn’t. But I think he got his hand in the way of a ball going through his own actions. Yes I do.

HAVE YOUR SAY! Did VAR deny West Ham a clear penalty? Comment below

David Moyes was left seething with officials after West Ham's 2-1 defeat by Liverpool ((Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images))

"The hardest thing to take is the disrespect from VAR. Somebody on VAR didn’t have enough football knowledge to understand that this could be close.

"The disrespect is to this football club. VAR should have said: ‘Check this out’. VAR for me showed no respect to us. I think they should apologise to the football club. We need to win points to be a Premier League team."

Jurgen Klopp said: "I thought he just fell on the ball but I can understand that Moysie sees it completely differently."

The defeat ends a run of five games unbeaten for the Hammers and leaves them only five points above the relegation zone.

Moyes said: "We played well. It was a really tight game. I thought we gave away two sloppy goals. I can’t complain about the way the players performed."

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