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Richard Keys has blasted Peter Walton’s view that it was correct for Virgil van Dijk to avoid a red card against Everton in the 0-0 draw at Goodison Park on Saturday.
Speaking on BT Sport after the Liverpool defender caught Amadou Onana on his shin and only got booked, former Premier League and FIFA referee Walton said there wasn’t sufficient force in the challenge for it to be a red card.
Walton claims that as van Dijk’s studs slipped down Onana’s shin, it wasn’t more than a yellow card.
Former Sky Sports host Keys found that reasoning laughable and took to his personal Twitter account on Saturday (3 September) to say that it was more than a booking.
“And this is hilarious,” said Keys while speaking about Walton’s view.
“It should’ve been red. Simple.”
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Absolutely a red
Walton will just defend whatever the referees do.
He’s just a mouthpiece for the PGMOL and will stand by them and his former refereeing colleagues no matter what.
It’s absolutely pointless having him on BT Sport when no one can actually remember him being critical of a referee’s performance.
And the same goes for the likes of Dermot Gallagher too.
It’s about time Sky and BT employ refereeing experts who actually think about what the fans, players and managers want from decisions and not just relay back the law book in some kind of way that justifies what the referees are doing.
VAR has had a shocking weekend.
It’s important to remember that the technology itself is fine – it’s the use of it.
Referees in this country aren’t being trained properly and are completely out of touch with how the game is actually played.
Van Dijk’s challenge on Onana was dangerous.
Reckless equals dangerous and scrapping or planting your studs on a player’s shin is horrible.
Van Dijk should have been sent off.
There’s no question about it.