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Lineker slams 'baffling' decision to bring on Noble after his penalty miss

  /  autty

Gary Lineker has slammed David Moyes' decision to send Mark Noble on to take a last-gasp penalty, which he missed as West Ham fell to a dramatic 2-1 defeat against Manchester United.

Said Benrahma and Cristiano Ronaldo's strikes left the game finely poised at half-time before former Iron Jesse Lingard stunned the home faithful with a brilliant curling effort on 89 minutes.

Moyes' men were given a chance to equalise in the dying embers of the contest following a VAR check after Luke Shaw's handball from Andriy Yarmolenko's cross had initially been waved away by referee Martin Atkinson.

Penalty specialist Noble was thrown on for Jarrod Bowen, but the 34-year-old lifelong Hammer - in his final season at the club - saw his effort bound for the bottom left-hand corner pushed away superbly by David de Gea.

Posting on Twitter straight after the full-time whistle, Lineker wrote: 'That is a decision which I will never understand.

'Bringing on a player, even as experienced and as good a penalty taker as Noble, purely to take a penalty having not touched the ball is baffling. Same with England at the Euros.'

The win takes the Red Devils up to second as they only trail leaders Liverpool on goal difference, while the east Londoners remain eighth.

Sky Sports Super Sunday pundits Graeme Souness and Roy Keane also criticised Moyes' ploy, with the Scot saying: 'It's a poor decision. It's the 94th minute. You don't bring someone on who's stone cold. It's wrong.'

'He can't have been warmed up properly. I fancied De Gea to save it. To bring a player who hasn't had many minutes... there must be players on the pitch who can score.'

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