Darren Fletcher ‘absolutely furious’ as West Ham United beat Manchester United with late penalty

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Manchester United have suffered late heartbreak having lost 2-1 to West Ham United, leaving Darren Fletcher far from impressed.

VAR is once again the subject of conversation after Manchester United’s 2-1 defeat at West Ham United.

United made the long trip down to East London and should have been out of sight having missed so many first-half chances.

Diogo Dalot missed the pick of the bench as he blazed over from an open goal before Crysencio Summerville put the Hammers in front.

Casemiro levelled it up for United before United were hit with a shocking penalty decision.

Matthijs de Ligt was adjudged to have brought down Danny Ings in injury time and Jarrod Bowen stepped up to score the winning goal.

• READ MORE: Man Utd ratings vs West Ham, Diogo Dalot’s miss of the season gets him 4/10 but 8/10 star returns to form

Manchester United coach left furious

VAR have claimed that there was ‘sufficient contact’ from De Ligt on Ings’ leg, meaning referee David Coote was advised to conduct an on-field review.

That is incredibly harsh as this was just a coming together with no serious force from De Ligt towards the West Ham striker.

For a game to be decided on that kind of incident is a real sickener for United and one coach was left furious.

The Athletic’s Laurie Whitwell noted on X that coach Darren Fletcher – who was sitting with United’s analysts – was ‘absolutely furious’.

Whitwell then wrote for The Athletic that Fletcher was angry with the perceived threshold for VAR interference, branding it a ‘joke’.

“One week it’s a high threshold, next week it’s not, _____ joke,” said Fletcher.

• READ MORE: Man United senior figure at risk of punishment after footage shows ‘beserk’ reaction to Matthijs de Ligt incident

Erik ten Hag right to be frustrated

Fletcher’s anger is mirrored by United fans everywhere and Erik ten Hag no doubt feels a similar way.

The Dutchman remains under huge pressure as United boss and further speculation surrounding Edin Terzic emerged this weekend.

Ten Hag needs results and he knows that United should have won this game, but a draw would not have been a total disaster.

Instead, United ended up losing from an incredibly soft refereeing decision and that could impact his future in the Old Trafford dugout.

VAR have defended their decision but there will be few softer penalty decisions made this season and United are right to feel aggrieved having left East London empty-handed.