By George Overhill

22nd Oct, 2022 | 8:10pm

Gary Lineker reacts sarcastically to VAR intervention in Everton win over Crystal Palace

Gary Lineker mocked the need to resort to VAR for the second Everton goal against Crystal Palace to be awarded on in a post on Twitter.

Anthony Gordon tapped into an unguarded net from about a yard out after Vicente Guaita had kept out Vitalii Mykolenko’s drive towards the far corner, but the assistant raised his flag just after the hour as the Toffees began to assert their dominance.

A video review showed that it wasn’t even close to offside and the goal stood, and Dwight McNeil went on to add a late third to go with Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s excellent opener.

Writing on his personal Twitter account after the second goal was confirmed on Saturday (22 October) Lineker said: “A 2 goal lead for Everton after Gordon’s finish was initially given offside.

“He was comfortably onside. That is what VAR is there for; the blindingly obvious.”

Necessary

For all that the technology leads to endless disputes still, this was about as clear an example of it doing its job perfectly as has been seen in a while.

The assistant made an error, and VAR allowed it to be caught and rectified, although it probably shouldn’t have needed to.

If the goal had not been allowed to stand and the slim lead was overturned before the end of the game it would have been a disaster for Everton.

The home side were more than good value for the win, and the scoreline didn’t flatter them at the final whistle, but a lucky break to draw things level around the time the second was eventually awarded could have changed the complexion entirely.

It hasn’t been often that the video assistant has come to Frank Lampard’s rescue since he took over at Goodison Park, but it did what it needed to this time.

It was just one aspect of a massively encouraging afternoon for the Everton boss, who saw his players respond emphatically to recent losses to get back on track, and he will hope for more of the same up until the World Cup.