Burnley boss Vincent Kompany had no qualms about the lengthy delay to check an offside call late on in their 2-1 Premier League loss at Bournemouth, but was incensed by the decision not to review a handball in the final moments of the match.
The Clarets suffered an eighth defeat of the campaign after goals by Antoine Semenyo and Philip Billing cancelled out Charlie Taylor’s sweet strike in the 11th minute.
A controversial moment occurred after 89 minutes when Jay Rodriguez fired into the bottom corner and – although it was immediately ruled out for offside – video assistant referee David Coote at Stockley Park took six minutes to review the incident.
Initially a green line was drawn to signal it was onside before a new line was drawn, which showed red and it was eventually ruled out, but Kompany was left stunned that a supposed handball by Chris Mepham was not checked in the eighth minute of added time.
Mepham and Burnley substitute Sander Berge tangled from a Taylor cross which resulted in Bournemouth goalkeeper Andrei Radu making a close-range save that appeared to be from Berge’s head, but Kompany stated it was actually via Mepham’s hand.
“It’s obvious at this moment in time, I will not have anything other than disappointment,” Kompany said.
“I want to address the first thing for me now which is the last thing that happened in the game. The handball situation in the box.
“Games get played on a knife edge but I am trying still to wrap my head around what happened in that moment of time.
“We take five to seven minutes to review the offside or not offside. The line goes green which means goal, the line goes red which means it is not a goal.
“OK, I am a person who always believes in the fact they have taken their time because they want to make the right decision. And a decision gets given against us.
“Tough one to take but then when the situation happens in the last moment of the game and we don’t take time to review the handball?
“There is no call to the referee to delay play when the players have called for it and the staff on the bench, we could see with a wide angle that there was a handball.
“It is the hand that brings the ball down. And there is no check, no delay for the restart and the ball goes and we lose the game. I am trying to understand what is happening in that moment.”
Kompany revealed he did speak with referee Sam Barrott after the match.
He added: “Yeah, I think for the first time in my career since I have been a manager I have actually politely and calmly gone to ask for a word of explanation from the officials.
“They were very open with me and they seemed surprise by the fact we would have liked this (handball) to go to VAR, so it means no one from VAR has told them it was worth reviewing. When you look at it, it is as blatant as it can be.
“I’m fairly confident this one would have taken them 15 seconds (to review).”
While Kompany was flabbergasted, Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola was able to toast a first Premier League win at the 10th time of asking thanks to Semenyo’s fine solo goal and Billing’s 76th-minute lob from 40 yards.
“Obviously happy, relieved because I think it was a needed victory for us,” Iraola said.
“Probably when you are in this situation everything costs a lot more. It happened today. We really deserved to win today but with the last VAR decision of the offside, we had to suffer until the end.
“For sure we all were remembering the Brentford game in stoppage-time and thinking it cannot happen again, because we didn’t deserve – we deserved to win clearly the game.”
On the handball, Iraola admitted: “I haven’t seen it.”
Frank praises Brentford's pressing, sees no tactical revamp with Toney departure
Thomas Frank heaped praise on Brentford's pressing following their 3-1 victory over Southampton on Saturday.
Bryan Mbeumo scored twice from Brentford's forwards forcing the Southampton backline into errors as the Bees earned their second Premier League win of the season.
This did not go unnoticed by Frank, who believes his side rank as one of the best in the league when it comes to that specific aspect.
He told BBC Sport: "They made errors because we pressed them unbelievably well. I think we are one of the best teams to do the high pressure in the Premier League.
"The players are so committed and that is the reason why we capitalised on errors from Southampton.”
Despite the departure of Ivan Toney to Al-Ahli, Frank does not think their style of play will have to be restructured too much, with both Mbuemo and Yoane Wissa enjoying productive starts to the season in his absence.
Frank said: “Ivan is a fantastic player, I'd love to have him in the team but he has his own journey and is going elsewhere.
"Our style of play hasn't changed. Wissa and Ivan are different players but the style doesn't change.”
Southampton boss Russell Martin was frustrated with his side’s mistakes at crucial moments, believing their performance was far better than the scoreline suggested.
He said to the BBC: “We made two mistakes that we were punished for, which is frustrating and disappointing.
"I saw lots of good things to feel positive about. I feel a lot better this week than I did after the Nottingham Forest game.”
Guardiola has 'no words' for hat-trick hero Haaland
Pep Guardiola was lost for words to describe Erling Haaland after his eighth Premier League hat-trick fired Manchester City to a 3-1 victory over West Ham.
Having scored a treble to help City claim a 4-1 win over Ipswich Town on matchday two, Haaland did likewise on Saturday to keep them perfect as they edged out the Hammers at the London Stadium.
Haaland's seven goals this season are the most any player has ever netted in the first three matches of a Premier League campaign, while only Sergio Aguero (12), Alan Shearer (11) and Robbie Fowler (nine) have ever helped themselves to more match balls in the competition.
Across English football's top four tiers, he is also the first player to score two hat-tricks in a team's first three games of a league season since Bradford City's Paul Jewell in 1994-95.
The Norwegian has now scored more than once in 26% of his Premier League matches (18/69, eight hat-tricks, 10 braces), leaving Guardiola in disbelief.
"There are no words for him," Guardiola told BBC Sport.
"All we can do is make him play better and better and give him as many balls as possible into the box. It's what we have to do. We are there and we added quality.
"This is a team. When you have to run backward, no one asks who has to do it. Everyone has to. When we see Erling doing that, it is fantastic."
Haaland himself, meanwhile, believes having an extended pre-season due to Norway missing out on Euro 2024 has helped him start the season in peak condition.
"I feel good. I feel energised. I had a long vacation and a long pre-season. I'm feeling good," Haaland told City's website.
"The years here have gone quick and it's been going like, 'bam bam bam', now I have a little bit of rest in my body and my feet. I feel really good now and I'm ready for more.
"I feel more refreshed and more energised. So when you do that you can practice on things you want to become better at in training. I feel good. I want to become better. I'm happy."
City sit top of the early-season table with nine points from nine available and saw last season's runners-up Arsenal slip up on Saturday, drawing 1-1 with Brighton and Hove Albion.
Haaland, though, feels it is too early to think about the title race, adding: "They [City's rivals] haven't slipped up yet. Three games, nine points. This is a great start.
"But let's not think too far ahead, because there’s potentially 70 games left this season. Let's breathe a bit and take it game by game."
Lopetegui rues missed opportunity as West Ham lose to Man City
West Ham manager Julen Lopetegui was not encouraged by the performance of his team despite losing 3-1 at home to Manchester City in their third league game.
“It is true that City is one of the best teams around the world for sure… but it is also true too that in the second half we have been very close to a draw,” he said speaking to BBC Match of the Day.
“I think we have played one very good second half. The start has been very good for us too.”
West Ham threatened for extended periods of the match and had chances to level the match at 2-1 down, with the best coming from Mohammed Kudus as he smashed a shot against the bar in the second half.
They also started the game brightly before going a goal down inside 10 minutes.
“In my mind we started very well, being aggressive,” said Lopetegui.
“We know in this plan normally they have initiative, it’s very difficult to not concede initiative then. That’s why you have to do a lot of very good things to overcome them.
“In the second half we had chances, I think we kept the ball much more, much more, and didn't concede a lot of chances."
But the hosts were ultimately undone by the brilliant finishing of Erling Haaland, who scored his second hat-trick in as many matches.
“He is one of the best players in the world, that's why he plays for Manchester City,” he said.
“You have to compete with these kind of players. City has the power and the quality to create chances.”
But ultimately, he was left frustrated at the sense of a missed opportunity and that his team were unable to earn themselves a draw that hadn’t seemed implausible during the match.
“Today I think the first goal was a pity for us but I’ve said it. I was happy with the performance think we were able to draw but again they damage us,” he said.
“Against this kind of team, if you make a mistake they don’t forgive. This is the difference they have… A little mistake they punish you, they punish us.
“We have to improve, to know to compete against this kind of team to be close to perfection.
“Don't make mistakes, be calm, defend well… we have quality players too.”
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