Premier League forced to address Man United VAR controversy as Erik ten Hag hits out

Manchester United were left seething on Sunday after they lost a point thanks to a VAR decision against West Ham at the London Stadium.

United were on track to a frustrating 1-1 draw when Matthijs de Ligt caught Danny Ings inside the penalty area. Initially David Coote rejected the home side's appeals but was convinced to change his mind when VAR's Michael Oliver called him to the screen to reconsider.

Jarrod Bowen scored the resulting spot-kick in stoppage time to win the game for the Iron and condemn United to their fourth defeat in nine Premier League outings. MEN Sport has rounded up all the aftermath following the controversy below.

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Premier League

Via their affiliated Match Centre X account, the Premier League released the following statement: "The VAR deemed there was sufficient contact on Ings’ lower leg and recommended an on-field review.

"The referee overturned his original decision and awarded a penalty."

Erik ten Hag

Ten Hag risked punishment from the FA and PGMOL by unleashing a furious rant at the referees and VAR for the call. "First of all, in football not always the best team win and today it was clear and obvious and clear and obvious was not how the VAR worked, how they run their process," the Dutchman began in his press conference.

"Before the season they explained the process of the VAR and only when it is clear and obvious then they should interfere. What they didn’t do against Spurs, where they should have done it, to interfere with the red card of Bruno (Fernandes), that was a wrong decision and now they make a wrong decision interfering.

"Both had big impacts on the scores of the games. As I say, I don’t criticise any person but I criticise the process.

"The off-field VAR was Michael Oliver but the on-field, you have to make a decision in the final moment and he did I think three minutes to decide. But then you have to show big personality to recall this decision.

"I am not criticising any person, I criticise the process and of course there are people running the process. But it had a big impact on the score and the other impact is we didn’t score."

Darren Fletcher

United's first-team coach was reportedly, according to The Athletic, even more damning with his criticism. He is said to have told reporters while walking underneath the London Stadium: "One week it's a high threshold, next week it's not, f****** joke."

Jarrod Bowen

Unsurprisingly, the West Ham striker had a more measured opinion of the incident. "At the time I saw Ings got kicked and I think they got kicked so I thought it wasn't a pen," he explained to Premier League Productions.

"I had a feeling it might get given and then Cre [Summerville] had the ball and it was a waiting game. With penalties you have a routine you know where you're going.

"But when you're waiting you're thinking shall I go the other way? But I stuck with what I know and stepped up and wanted to dispatch and thankfully I did that."

Alan Shearer

He may not always be the most popular man among United fans having rejected the club during his playing career but Shearer stuck up for the Reds in his brief assessment of the controversy. "Awful decision," he admitted on Premier League Productions.

"That's a terrible decision whether you like Manchester United or not, and I don't understand why Michael Oliver [VAR] got involved."