Keith Hackett: Stuart Attwell got Anthony Gordon booking right for ‘outrageous’ Everton dive v Liverpool
We’re delighted to welcome former Premier League referee Keith Hackett as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Everton...
Keith Hackett has insisted that Everton’s “cheat” tactics of time-wasting put more pressure on Stuart Attwell against Liverpool.
The ex-FIFA official defended the referee and backed his decision to book Anthony Gordon in the opening 45 minutes at Anfield.
Hackett labelled the dive from the winger as “outrageous” and also mentioned Richarlison’s numerous incidents.
“I hope that following his performance, he will review it and he will learn,” he exclusively told Goodison News.
“My observations were that he was faced with Everton’s tactics of trying to delay and sadly, however you put it, trying to cheat.
“That effectively put pressure on him, I think he was correct in his caution of Gordon, for what was an outrageous act of simulation, however, you look at it, and then, of course, he had the problems that he didn’t quite grip with Richarlison and that put him in jail later on.”
Wrong.
No matter what each of these opinions are Gordon still deserved a spot-kick after being hauled down by Joel Matip.
Attwell must have been motivated by the adjudged simulation in the first-half for him not to give it, and VAR didn’t even get involved either somehow.
Frank Lampard set up the Toffees in two banks of five and Liverpool struggled to break that down, that is what any team would have done in this scenario.
Everton are fighting for their lives at the bottom of the Premier League, and unfortunately, they are not being helped by the officials.
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