West Ham and Newcastle players clash at the London Stadium.
(Credit: Sky Sports & Imago)
Keith Hackett
Mon 10 March 2025 21:57, UK
Michael Salisbury failed to assert his authority as West Ham lost 1-0 to Newcastle at the London Stadium on Monday night.
Bruno Guimaraes was in the spotlight in East London, scoring the only goal of the game, bundling Jarrod Bowen over in the penalty area and being involved in a clash with Edson Alvarez in the first half.
He was substituted off in the 88th minute after a “captain’s performance”, according to Sky Sports’ Alan Smith.
But referee Salsibury has been criticised for the way he managed the Brazilian’s antics in the Premier League clash.
Graham Potter
West Ham boss Graham Potter (Credit: Imago)
Guimaraes in heated confrontation with Alvarez
Former Premier League and FIFA-listed referee Keith Hackett thought Salisbury took a passive role to refereeing the incident involving Guimaraes and Alvaraz.
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After blowing up for a foul, Salsibury failed to book both players when they were involved in some verbals that resulted in the Newcastle midfielder lying on the ground.
Salisbury spoke to both players afterwards but waved both away without any further punishment, which isn’t something Hackett would have done.
West Ham stats
Appearances 26
Goals 0
Assists 1
Yellow cards 6
Red cards 2
Alvarez’s stats in all competitions this season.
“When there is a flare up of this type, the referee needs to be much more active,” the former PGMOL general manager told West Ham Zone.
“Simple things like blasting the whistle or moving towards the conflict using his loud voice to stop an escalation.
“In this incident, the referee should have issued each player with a yellow card to assert his authority.”
Alvarez barges into Guimaraes. (Credit: Sky Sports)
West Ham can’t get up and running under Graham Potter
Potter has taken West Ham away from the Premier League’s relegation zone since replacing Julen Lopetegui in the London Stadium hotseat in January.
That’s probably the minimum requirement of what he had to do after taking the East London job and barring a win over Arsenal, it’s hardly been a spectacle.
Potter’s dragged West Ham away from the bottom three.
Since taking charge, the ex-Chelsea manager has managed three wins and one draw and suffered four losses.
It’s almost peak consistent inconsistency but while the results have been just about good enough, the performances haven’t been.
West Ham fans were spoilt rotten under David Moyes and they’re not going to put up with this kind of form next season in the Premier League.
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