January 26th 2025.
During the Premier League match between West Ham and Aston Villa, former Premier League defender Jamie Carragher made a comment about West Ham star Lucas Paqueta being "embarrassing". The game, which took place at Villa Park on Sunday, was getting heated as the first half came to a close and multiple players got into a scuffle.
The referee, Peter Bankes, had his hands full as Paqueta went down after a collision with Aston Villa's Lucas Digne on the edge of the box. The two were waiting for West Ham to take a free-kick when Digne seemed to throw an elbow towards Paqueta. However, it was unclear if there was any actual contact. Paqueta fell to the ground and complained to the referee, asking for Digne to be punished. The incident was checked by VAR, but the referee was told to continue without taking any action.
Carragher was not impressed by Paqueta's reaction and commented on how players going down easily to try and get their opponents booked or sent off is becoming a common occurrence in the Premier League. "It's one of those embarrassing ones," the Liverpool legend said during his commentary on Sky Sports. "I'm just looking at a replay, he just gets a little tap. Just get up. Look at his teammates... They just come together slightly. I feel like that's been creeping back into the game actually, players going down and trying to get players booked or sent off. Players from both teams are not covering themselves in glory. We criticise officials for making mistakes but players don't make it easy for them sometimes."
As the game continued, commentator Peter Drury confirmed that VAR had told the referee to play on, and Carragher let out a sigh of relief, saying "Thankfully." Aston Villa had taken an early lead thanks to Jacob Ramsey's superb goal in the 6th minute, leaving West Ham trailing 1-0 at half-time.
On BBC Radio 5 Live, former Aston Villa defender Stephen Warnock commented on the difficult start for West Ham, saying they could have been down by a couple of goals. "But then they did find themselves a goal down, it was Jacob Ramsey with a cracking finish for Aston Villa," he added. "West Ham changed things tactically, started to grow into the game and dominated possession for large parts of the first-half. But they still don't have that instinct in front of goal. Emi Martinez has had nothing to save."
Jamie Redknapp, a former England midfielder, also weighed in on the game during his commentary on Sky Sports. "Villa have been wasteful at times, but the play has been beautiful at times," he said. "It got very bitty towards the end. With Mings coming off, that affected them and they have to change Digne to centre back. He hasn't found it easy and it might give West Ham a lifeline."
Aston Villa was sitting in eighth place in the Premier League before the match, while West Ham was in 14th place under the leadership of new manager Graham Potter.
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