West Ham vs Manchester United: Phil Jones should have been sent off, not Sofiane Feghouli, suggests Slaven Bilic

The West Ham manager believes the United defender's challenge for the ball was 'dangerous' and warranted action from referee Mike Dean

Sofiane Feghouli and Phil Jones put in a 50-50 challenge for the ball but it was Jones who reacted (Getty)

Slaven Bilic said that Phil Jones was more at fault for the incident that saw Sofiane Feghouli sent off in the first half at the London Stadium than Feghouli was himself. West Ham lost 2-0 to Manchester United but struggled to get into the game after Feghouli’s controversial dismissal by Mike Dean after just 15 minutes.

Both Jones and Feghouli jumped in for a 50-50 tackle but Jones reacted dramatically and Feghouli was sent off. Bilic said that the red card was “totally unfair” and that he will appeal. “I would not even be happy with a yellow card there, it is not a yellow,” Bilic said. “After I saw it, it gave me proof that I was right, and the more times I see it, I think it is the other way around. It was Jones who made the more dangerous tackle than Feghouli, Jones made a scissors tackle that was dangerous. Maybe his reaction was to save himself. It was definitely not a red card.”

This was just Feghouli’s first Premier League start and Bilic said that he hopes he will not now be banned for the next three games. “We will appeal of course,” Bilic said. “I am expecting at least to win the appeal, which will not make me totally happy but I will be extremely gutted to lose Feghouli for three matches."

Bilic said that if West Ham play as they did in this game in the second half of the season they will do very well. “I don’t like like consolations, to be happy in defeat, to be proud despite losing points, but sometimes it’s time for that,” he said. “We’re gutted, we’re disappointed, but in the same time I’m proud of the team, I told them after the game. If we continue to work hard and play for each other and play so good on the ball we don’t have to worry. We’re going to be high in the table. We showed today we can do it. We’re on the way up.”

Mourinho admitted that his Manchester United team did not play well, and said that they needed the fresh brains and legs of Juan Mata and Marcus Rashford to turn the game in the second half.

“It was not a very good performance,” Mourinho said. “It is very difficult to play football in these circumstances, with 48 hours [between games]. It’s amazing for the fans around world, and I am more than happy to do that.

"But it is very hard for players. Not just hard for the team with 10 men, but also hard for the team with 11. When you have one player more, you need to think well, and the players were too tired to think well. They made lots of wrong decisions.”

Rashford made the opening goal, squaring to Mata, the goal that effectively killed the game. “When you are fresh, you play simple,” Mourinho explained. “When you are not fresh, you play complicated. In the first half, everything was complicated. It was only when I got fresh people on, Mata and Rashford, that the team was different.”