Inefficient refereeing and poor VAR calls have hurt Everton the most this season. Perhaps, had those decisions not been made, Everton may have already secured Premier League football for next season. VAR was brought in to aid referees in making decisions and potentially reverse the wrong calls of the referee.
In Everton’s case, the combination of poor refereeing and unproductive VAR has left fans furious and even seen Frank Lampard blast the decisions in front of the media. Here are three decisions that went against Everton.
1. Rodri handball
Back in February, Everton were just lingering above the drop zone, sitting in 16th and 17th place, not making much of a jump. After a 3-0 win over Leeds, Everton were set to face Southampton, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. Out of the three opponents, one would expect Pep Guardiola’s City to steamroll past Everton who were ages behind the Premier League champions in terms of quality.
To everyone’s surprise, Everton were doing just fine to contain the City pressure. The Royal Blues held Manchester City for 82 minutes before Phil Foden broke the deadlock. Almost immediately, Everton had a chance to equalize, had a penalty been awarded as Rodri used his arm to control the ball.
There were numerous shouts for a penalty and upon a VAR check, no penalty was awarded. It was one of the poorest decisions that have been seen this season. It couldn’t have been any clearer that it was a handball. Lampard was furious with the VAR and the referee in his post game interview.
Lampard’s side had played diligently the whole game and all they needed was for VAR to give the right decision and award the penalty. The Royal Blues would have been more than happy to restrict Manchester City to a draw and walk away with one point but instead, Everton lost two points because of incompetent refereeing.
In the aftermath of this incident, Premier League referees apologized to Everton for the wrong call made but an apology really wouldn’t repair the wrong.
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