Football
PA Sport 9y

Alan Pardew: No complaints over Moussa Sissoko sending off

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew had few complaints with the sending off of Moussa Sissoko as his side fell to a 1-0 defeat to in-form West Ham.

As Aaron Cresswell scored the only goal of the game, the visitors lacked a cutting edge in the final third and had to play the final 15 minutes with 10 men as the France midfielder collected two needless cautions in the space of as many minutes.

First he kicked the ball away after a foul against him in the West Ham penalty area, and then bundled into Andy Carroll, who made the most of his reaction, as the referee reached for his pocket once again.

"Moussa was frustrated he has not got the free-kick in the box, and then just lost his mind a bit, with kicking the ball away and then in the next incident is just a minute after,'' Pardew said after the game. "It is not like Moussa, he has been outstanding for us.

"He has to learn from this, but he is not a malicious player, although having seen it on the replay, it does not look good.''

Pardew felt his team had worked hard enough, but just lacked their clinical touch of recent weeks.

"We did not really create the great moment we needed, although we got into some good positions, we could not find the great pass we needed, which we have done in recent weeks,'' he said.

"The goal we conceded was disappointing, having defended superbly against a team who put us under a lot of pressure.

"You kind of sensed that one goal was going to be important for both teams. Unfortunately today, we have just come up short.''

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