Everton Richarlison incident has ex-PGMOL boss at wits end, exasperated with current referees
Former PGMOL boss Keith Hackett is exasperated with current referees for creating a culture that led to Everton missing out on a penalty on Sunday (15 May).
Having already told Goodison News exclusively that he believed it should have been a spot kick when Richarlison had his shirt pulled by Kristoffer Ajer, he is still upset now.
The apparent infringement was ignored by Michael Oliver during the game, and was immediately followed by a red card for Jarrad Branthwaite at the other end for a last-man foul, and had a major effect on the game.
Outraged former Toffee Don Hutchison posted on Twitter Monday night (16 May) a still frame from the incident saying: “How on Earth is this not a penalty!!!!!”
Hackett responded on Wednesday morning (18 May) on his personal Twitter page, saying: “Referees have allowed grappling to escalate because of not applying the laws of the game.
“For any match official to say this is not holding then for heavens sake!! Look it is evident that Richarlison is on the wrong end of this- It’s a simple decision.”
Too late
Despite some Liverpool-tinged views in the opposite direction from the likes of Jamie Carragher and Graeme Souness, it seems most agree that this incident should have resulted in a penalty.
And Hackett’s exasperation is understandable because it is a strong example of an issue which feeds into further problems.
The Toffees Brazilian attacker is often derided for going down too easily, and Richard Keys was again accusing him of such for the later penalty he was awarded.
But there is an obvious incentive to do that if the lesser foul where he went down was awarded with a penalty, and this apparently glaring infringement was allowed to pass because he stayed up.
Carragher similarly cited the fact that the forward didn’t complain until after the fact as part of his justification for feeling it wasn’t a penalty during Monday Night Football on Sky.
But players complaining to referees is another thing that is frequently railed against, and shouldn’t be a prerequisite for being awarded a foul as if it was a cricket appeal.
If referees got out of the habit of waiting for signifiers like players going down or appealing to award fouls we would have to sit through less of both.
The officials clearly have a difficult job, but when they appear to full for clichés that every watching fan can see a mile off week after week it lowers confidence in them.
And while these issues keep occurring Hackett is going to continue being upset with them, along with the thousands of fans on the receiving end.
In other Everton news, the club have been to watch a highly-sought after prospect with a famous name.
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