Manchester United win 2-1 at West Ham after Noble, with his one and only kick of the afternoon, sees penalty saved by David de Gea; Noble had been a substitute and was only introduced to take kick; De Gea's first PL penalty save in seven years
Monday 20 September 2021 12:22, UK
Sky Sports pundits Graeme Souness and Roy Keane expressed their amazement after substitute Mark Noble was sent to take West Ham's last-minute penalty kick against Man Utd - which was saved by David de Gea.
Noble, who had converted his previous 10 penalties, was a spectator on the substitutes' bench for over 90 minutes before being sent on to take the kick, which was awarded deep into injury time for handball against Luke Shaw.
The save, which secured a 2-1 win for Manchester United after Jesse Lingard's late goal, was De Gea's first penalty stop in the Premier League since 2014.
"It's wrong on every level," Sky Sports pundit Souness said. "He was sat down for maybe 20 minutes or half an hour and he wasn't ready to come on. It was a poor penalty. It wasn't a great save. I think David Moyes will be angry with himself and the manager has opened himself up to lots of criticism."
Manchester United had themselves been denied three penalty appeals prior to Shaw's handball being penalised after a VAR review.
"It is wrong. It's a poor decision. He hasn't been warmed up to come on in the 94th minute so he is stone cold," continued Souness.
"It doesn't matter if he scores every penalty in training, you don't bring on a player who is stone cold after 90 minutes to come on and take a penalty in that situation."
A concurring Keane said: "It was very strange. He can't have been warmed up properly. I didn't fancy him to score. Sometimes a manager can be too clever.
"De Gea is in good form but it's a big ask of a player without any warm-up or having touched the ball once. It's the life of a manager. Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] was criticised during the week for brining on Jesse Lingard, he does so again today and he gets a very important goal.
"Gareth [Southgate] was criticised for doing the same in the summer at the Euros. If he scores today, you'd be saying it's clever but I feel it's a big ask.
"Noble hasn't even been playing the last few games so he's not even up to speed with the Premier League. David Moyes will be fuming."
Match co-commentator Alan Smith added: "I'm amazed that Noble wanted to take it and was allowed to take it, coming on cold like that. No matter how good you are at taking penalties down the years, it is asking an awful lot. It wasn't in the corner, it was a great height for De Gea who guessed right."
West Ham manager David Moyes rejected the suggestion that West Ham's recent record of four misses from their last five came into his thinking when he brought Noble on to take the pressure stoppage-time spot kick.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Moyes was adamant Noble's penalty record - not the outcome - was proof he made the correct decision.
"The thinking behind it? Look at his record," Moyes said. "I'd have been more disappointed if I hadn't made the decision.
"I made the decision, and it didn't quite work today. I was more influenced by Noble's record, rather than West Ham's record."
Counterpart Ole Gunnar Solskjaer also defended Moyes' decision but was less impressed with the decision-making of the match officials.
"I wasn't surprised when Noble came on. I've seen him score so many penalties," the Manchester United boss told Sky Sports.
"Sometimes those decisions go for you, sometimes they go against you. The outcomes always determine the narrative. This time it turned out to be the wrong call - that is football."
Manchester United had earlier had three penalty appeals of their own waved away, the last of which occurred when Cristiano Ronaldo appeared to be tripped in the penalty area in the 91st minute - two minutes either side of Lingard's winner and Shaw's handball.
"I'm going to be careful with what I'm saying, but you've got to be wondering what's he's got to do to get a penalty," Solskjaer told Manchester United's official website. "The first and the third is 100 per cent nailed on.
"It's two clear penalties. I think they're stonewall. You can't even argue against them. The first one, he puts his foot out and Ronaldo runs straight and is fouled. Hopefully it won't be that he's never going to get a penalty."
