Sheffield United defender Anel Ahmedhodzic has struck out at TNT Sports’ coverage of his last-gasp tussle with West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen on Sunday. The Hammers felt hard done by for not being awarded a potentially decisive penalty, but Ahmedhodzic insists that replays of the incident have been ‘edited’.
As if two red cards and a 103rd-minute equaliser weren’t enough to cram into a dramatic period of second-half stoppage time, West Ham had a credible shout for a late, late spot-kick at Bramall Lane which could have swung the pendulum back in their favour.
Into the 14th minute of time added on, and with the score finely poised at 2-2, Ahmedhodzic and Bowen both went to ground in the penalty area, with slowed-down footage showing that the Sheffield United captain had a fistful of his opponent’s shirt.
Hammers stars pleaded with Michael Salisbury but the referee was unmoved, and the VAR opted not to take action. The game finished level as TNT Sports pundits Rio Ferdinand and Joe Cole – both ex-West Ham players – took issue with the call at full time.
“He puts his arms on him,” said Cole. “I can’t see how they’ve not looked at that. Absolute penalty.” Ahmedhodzic subsequently took to social media and spoke out against the footage used to analyse the incident.
“Clearly biased,” he wrote on X. “You can see at the unedited footage where he pulls me down with him which makes me lose sight of the ball. Obviously it’s been edited to make it look like a pen to West Ham.”
“I am certainly not going to talk about any referees, for sure I don’t want to get myself into trouble,” he said. “You should ask the referee and see what they think.
“We have got to the stage where we are settling for a level of officiating where we are all shrugging our shoulders and saying, ‘OK’. We are shrugging our shoulders again and seeing what they do. We don’t know what they are going to do.”
