Daniel Feliciano

Mon 16 May 2022 20:40, UK

Dermot Gallagher believes VAR would not have overturned Michael Oliver’s decision if he’d given Everton a penalty for a shirt pull on Richarlison against Brentford.

The Toffees were furious when the referee waved away calls for a penalty on the Brazilian, only for Jarrad Branthwaite to be sent off seconds later for a clumsy last man challenge.

When discussing the decision on Sky Sports’ ‘ref watch’ segment on Monday [May 16], former FIFA ref Gallagher admitted he understood why the decision was made but said he was ‘100% confident’ that if Oliver had awarded a penalty that it wouldn’t have been turned over.

“From what I get fed back, they felt that both players were pulling,” he said.

“They felt Richarlison was pulling Ajer’s shirt and Ajer was pulling his shirt. I would suggest that if Michael Oliver gave this as a penalty, the VAR would go with him. But because he has this opinion that both players are grappling and don’t forget, the referee is relaying back to the VAR what they see.

“He is of the opinion both players are grappling. If you look, I can understand that to a certain extent.

“What happens then, as the play goes on, the VAR checks that off-screen and while they are checking that it goes up field, Branthwaite then gets sent off. So you have this hiatus where he produces a red card, that has to be checked and yes that’s OK, then they go back to that and decide no penalty.

“When they do that Brainthwiate’s red card stands. Ironically, if they go back and give the penalty, Branthwaite would have stayed on the field.

“When anybody pulls a shirt they are taking a massive risk, but the ref felt Ajer was being pulled as well. That is the vagary of VAR, it has backed the referee here, but if he had given a penalty, I am one hundred per cent confident that VAR would have cleared it.”

Another one

So, there you have it. Further confirmation that once again the referee on the day of the game has gone against Everton and Frank Lampard.

There was absolutely no disputing Salomon Rondon’s red late on in the game, but by that point the damage was already done. If the penalty got given as it should have done, then Branthwaite doesn’t get sent off either.

That surely goes a long way towards helping the team pick up a vital point, or potentially even three, and strengthens their position in the battle for safety even more.

Now they head into the game with less of a gap than they should’ve had, and once again we’re questioning the consistency and decision making of the officials instead of the performance of the team.

It’s a pattern that has become far too familiar this season and someone has to do something about it heading into the new campaign. Fingers crossed Everton aren’t too badly affected by the decision.

In other Everton news, Journalist totally stunned by Everton after Sun development that is ‘Blowing my mind’

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