That was harsh on Leeds at the weekend.
The FA Cup might not be the top of everyone’s priority list, but I thought we were unfortunate to come away from West Ham with a 2-0 defeat.
Marcelo did swap things around somewhat and it was good to see a few lads given an opportunity. Overall I thought it was a good performance against a much stronger West Ham side and with a bit more luck, it would have been us in the fourth round draw.
I’m not sure how on earth VAR could allow their opening goal to stand after looking at again. I can understand the referee allowing it in the first place. Because of the way play moved on it was practically impossible for him to see Jarrod Bowen was in an offside position, but once you slowed it down it was all too obvious.
And if the reason it was allowed is because he wasn’t deemed to be interfering with play it’s even more ridiculous. He jumps over Meslier as the shot goes in and is right, slap, bang in the middle of the play…
Up to that point – and even afterwards – there wasn’t much to choose between the two sides, and you always sensed that might settle the game. It did look like we might pull a goal back, but with Dan James up there, we lacked any real presence down the middle when we really needed it in the closing stages. And he was a little unfortunate in the final minutes when the ball was drilled in for him way too quickly to be able to get a good shot away, despite getting in a great position.
The big thing to come out of the game, for me, is that we go back to West Ham again this weekend when we will have a stronger team out and will be able to take plenty of confidence from the cup tie.
If we can turn in another good performance, we might get our deserved rewards this time.