The fall-out from the Merseyside derby continues, and it’s no surprise to hear that a former, well-regarded Premier League referee was unhappy with some of the decisions from the match.
The biggest talking point was the failure of VAR to send off Jordan Pickford after his reckless challenge on Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk, and Mark Halsey couldn’t believe what he was seeing when the Everton goalkeeper escaped any punishment.
“It was a serious foul play challenge, I was amazed,” Halsey told CaughtOffside.
“I can understand Michael Oliver not seeing it as his view was slightly impaired, and whilst the offside nullifies the penalty, it doesn’t nullify the challenge.
“What on earth was David Coote (VAR) doing, and also Stuart Burt, the linesman, who was looking straight at the incident.
“It was a career-ending challenge.”
For football supporters generally, it’s the inconsistencies that seem to be at the root of their ire.
The marginal offsides are more than annoying too, but by the letter of the law, they’re still offside.
It’s the subjective decisions that the officials seem to keep getting wrong, and given that we are already in the second season of having used it, you would’ve thought that the problems would be ironed out by now.
Thankfully, van Dijk is going to be ok, albeit he’s facing a lengthy period out of the game.
The truth is Everton goalkeeper is English, we know how English referees treat fellow English players we know that period