Julen Lopetegui disagrees with Erik ten Hag on controversial referee decision vs Man United

West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui said he was 'sure' it was the right decision to give his side a penalty against Manchester United, despite having not watched a replay of the incident.

The game between West Ham and United was finally poised after Casemiro's equaliser in the 83rd minute but the end of the contest was marred by a controversial decision.

With just seconds of normal time remaining, Danny Ings went down to the ground in the box after slight contact from Matthijs de Ligt and although referee David Coote did not award the spot kick, he was advised to check the VAR monitor by Stockley Park, who felt it was a spot kick.

Coote subsequently gave the penalty and Jarrod Bowen converted from the spot, finding the bottom-right corner, which left United's players incensed as West Ham celebrated.

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The penalty decision has already been criticised by pundits, but Lopetegui defended the call when asked after his side's 2-1 victory.

"I didn't see it. The players say it's a penalty and the referee says it is a penalty so I am sure they are right," he said. "But I haven't seen it. I prefer to highlight that after they scored we keep the energy and positive momentum to win the match. I prefer to keep that energy.

"We had a bad result last week. But that can happen and today we've won against a big team. To win any match is a big challenge it's difficult you have to go to the limits. We have to keep the energy to compete and be better."

Erik ten Hag slammed the decision in his post-match interview with the BBC and said: "It was so difficult to see. Before the season there was the instruction about VAR only