Seb's Lament

Sebastien Schemmel feels that Manchester United's second equaliser turned the game.

Referee Michael Halsey ordered a free kick to be taken again, from which Nicky Butt headed home, and Seb says:

"After the retaken free kick to make it 2-2 it wasn't the same game; the ref made a mistake there, though we made five mistakes for five goals, as Glenn said.

"Nobody knows why the ref had the kick retaken and even the Manchester United players were surprised; if we had gone in at 2-1 up it would have been a different story."

West Ham had two claims for a penalty turned down, one early on when Gary Neville may have handballed, and one when, at 4-3, Fredi Kanoute had his shirt tugged.

Soon after that, the visitors were awarded a spot kick when Tomas Repka was adjudged to have fouled Paul Scholes, and Seb adds:

"Tomas says it was not a penalty kick; I think this ref wants Manchester United to win the championship!

"He called me by my surname and the Manchester United players by their christian names, and it is difficult for me to accept that because it is not the same.

"He would call me 'Schemmel' but David Beckham 'David' and it is not equal; I don't like that, and we weren't getting the free kicks like Man U were.

"It is like Arsenal when we should have had a penalty in the last minute but nobody said anything - bigger clubs get decisions.

"In the last 20 minutes the ref said 'I want to help you' but I said 'I don't want your help - you do your job, and I'll do mine'.

"Perhaps he said it because he had been helping them for 70 minutes!"

Seb is staying positive about the rest of the season, and says:

"If you score three times against Barthez it is not, bad but if you want to play in the UEFA Cup it is not possible to give so many goals away.

"But the next game is Ipswich at home and we can put things right in that game, and other results went our way on Saturday.

"But I understand, I am learning, and it won't be the same next season; when you play against players like Beckham and van Nistelrooy you learn every time.

"Manchester United is so brilliant, a terrific team; Arsenal are not the same.

"Everybody knows where the ball is going, and it is fantastic - I am very pleased to have watched this team because it is so fantastic.

"I am disappointed by the five goals, and it wasn't very good to lose Trevor two or three hours before the game, but we had to be professional and get on with it.

"I am not very happy because we lost, but I am happy in the sense that the team played with heart."