Keith Hackett says Craig Pawson should have told Stuart Attwell to get lost over Everton red card
Craig Pawson should have told Stuart Attwell to “get lost” instead of deciding to send off Everton midfielder Allan according to Keith Hackett.
The referee had originally shown the Brazilian a yellow card in the 1-0 win over Newcastle on Thursday night (17 March), but was referred to the monitor by the video assistant, overturned his original decision, and produce a red.
Toffees players and fans were incensed inside Goodison Park and manager Frank Lampard said after the game, via the Mirror: “No one has got the balls to stick by their on field decision.”
In response to that quote from the Toffees boss, former PGMOL head Hackett wrote on his personal Twitter account last night (18 March): “Tell the VAR to “Get Lost” ref Pawson was in a good position and made the initial correct call ( yellow) When refs in the Premier League go to the monitor they need to be prepared to stick with their original decision”.
Unequivocal
The position is clear on what has turned out to be another highly controversial decision against Everton.
It had previously seemed that Hackett was unmoved by the red card decision, having been tweeted directly about it at the time and directed his attention elsewhere, but his strong position here suggests he must have missed it.
Attwell, it has since been confirmed, is due to referee the Toffees’ upcoming FA Cup game with Crystal Palace, despite coming under fire repeatedly in recent weeks.
The challenge itself is the type that is sometimes classed as an “orange” card in that it was a strong one for a booking, but not quite enough for a red.
The cynical stop on Allan Saint-Maximin was clearly deliberate, as the concept of taking a booking for the team is common place in the game.
Perhaps the rules should be made stronger to prevent that, but since it is permitted the former-Napoli player made the decision to do that.
Had he known he was running the risk of a sending off he surely wouldn’t have.
The fact that it was possible to freeze the video on the moment showing he had both feet off the ground appeared to be what changed Pawson’s mind.
But it was a definite instance where nobody appeared to have a problem with the booking until replays were pawed over.
In other Everton news, the hosts clashed over the incident on talkSPORT yesterday.
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