BBC pundit slams Richarlison after reaction to being substituted off in Everton v Crystal Palace
BBC Radio 5 Live pundit Clinton Morrison has slammed Richarlison for his reaction to being substituted off as Everton lost 3-1 at Crystal Palace on Sunday evening.
Rafa Benitez hooked Richarlison in the 58th minute and replaced him with Salomon Rondon.
Everton fans jeered the decision and the Brazil international was clearly furious too and threw a strop on the bench at Selhurst Park.
Twelve minutes later, Rondon scored.
Morrison doesn’t feel as though it was right to take Richarlison off but says the ex-Watford attacker cannot act disrespectful towards Benitez.
“Some of the Everton fans are booing, they’re disappointed with it, they’re losing the game. Richarlison is frustrated but he can’t react like that, he has to respect his manager,” said Morrison on Radio 5 Live, as quoted on the BBC Sport website.
After Rondon’s goal, the ex-Palace player added: “Good decision now, is it, to bring him on? I don’t think it was right to bring off Richarlison but he’s made an impact straight away.”
Bad attitude
Everton fans booed Benitez’s decision to take off Richarlison and the Brazilian clearly wasn’t happy about it either.
But it was totally justified.
According to BBC Sport’s live match feed, Richarlison had just 10 touches before he was substituted. He was the only outfield player who started the game who had fewer than 20 touches of the ball.
That stat makes for grim reading but we can understand the frustration when Richarlison is seen as one of the game-changers.
But Benitez is showing that no one is immune to being dropped or substituted off if they’re not playing well enough and taking off Richarlison ended up being the correct call as Rondon scored just over 10 minutes later.
We get the frustration. But please, Evertonians. Do not jeer a player in the game, especially when he’s just being substituted on.
Rondon isn’t good enough but he doesn’t deserve that.
In other Everton news, the Toffees are plotting January loan-to-buy bid for centre-mid hailed by Jack Grealish last month.
Be sure to follow Goodison News on Facebook and Twitter for 24/7 updates on Everton and more exclusive interviews with Kevin Campbell.