WEST Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini insisted he had spoken with Eddie Howe about Cherries assistant manager Jason Tindall “trying to pressurise” referee Stuart Attwell.

The sides played out a pulsating 2-2 draw at Vitality Stadium today, during which Cherries had a Joshua King first-half goal awarded following a VAR consultation.

But Nathan Ake’s second-half strike was ruled out by the officials due to an offside decision.

Asked what was said between the two bosses after the full-time whistle, Pellegrini replied: “I talk about the assistant coach of him, the complete game with the referee trying to pressurise in every decision.

“That's all what I complain, not about the VAR.

“I think Eddie has done very good work here – his assistant doesn't need to do those kind of things because I don't think it's fair for the referee.”

Asked whether there had been any heated words between him and the West Ham boss, Howe said: “No, not heated. We were just discussing a few VAR calls and everyone’s got their own different opinions to decisions, so there’s no problem.”

Asked which VAR calls were discussed, Howe replied: “I don’t know, there was about 10 of them. I lost track of them all!

“You’ve Nathan’s goal that wasn’t, Joshua’s goal that was.

“We were on both sides of the coin today but you have to take that with the new technology that’s come in.”