‘We were small West Brom’ – Bilic rages at refereeing after loss v Man United
West Brom manager Slaven Bilic was critical of the refereeing during his side’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday.
The Baggies had an on-field penalty decision overturned by VAR after Conor Gallagher appeared to be fouled by Bruno Fernandes.
United were then awarded a penalty which Fernandes saw saved by Johnstone, but the Portuguese midfielder was allowed retake it after the West Brom goalkeeper came off his line.
The former Sporting man scored the second time of asking and the match finished 1-0.
“I thought the big decisions went against us,” Bilic said after the game (via Birmingham Mail).
“In that second half I felt we were small West Brom, you know? Big decisions, not small decisions, went against us completely. It’s a penalty on Conor Gallagher, I am very disappointed that he overturned that decision.
“Then the next for them, a few minutes after, it is a penalty. It is. It’s retaken, it should be because they are the rules, but that penalty shouldn’t be given in the first place because there was another foul on Conor Gallagher.”
West Brom put in an excellent performance on the day and were incredibly unlucky to see the result go against them.
Karlan Grant and Conor Townsend went close, while Callum Robinson had a late effort deflect off the crossbar. The penalty decisions went against the Baggies in the end, but they can leave Manchester proud of their performance.
The debate surrounding VAR will continue following this game and Albion fans can feel rightfully aggrieved by how things played out at Old Trafford. It was a hard enough match for the Baggies without seemingly every decision going against them.
Johnstone too deserves praise and he made numerous excellent saves on a return to the club that sold him to The Hawthorns in 2018.
In other West Brom news, Chris Wilder has responded to links between West Brom and a Sheffield Utd player.
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