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We’re delighted to welcome former Everton striker Kevin Campbell as our exclusive columnist. Each week the former Toffees captain will be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Goodison Park…
Everton were on the wrong end of bad refereeing at Bournemouth again but were guilty of worse failures of their own, says Kevin Campbell.
Craig Pawson allowed Kieffer Moore’s goal to stand in the second “terrible” loss to the Cherries in a week, despite James Tarkowski being down in the area with a head injury, going against the official directive.
But Sky Sports pundit Campbell is more concerned about the way the team played, with real worries in attack, and sloppiness at the back.
Speaking exclusively to Goodison News he said: “I think it was one of those days that Everton could really do without. Everything seemed to go against them.
“In the same game there was another injury, where the Bournemouth player was down [after a blow to the head], and the referee stopped the game.
“So you can question the refereeing, but at the end of the day if he doesn’t stop the game you’ve got to play to the whistle.
“For all the remonstrating and demonstrating, keep the ball out of your net and then you can speak to the referee.
“It seemed like some players switched off. It was just yet another bad day at the office down in Bournemouth.
“The cup game went terrible, and the first team game went terrible.
“Again, Everton looked so punchless up front, I think that’s the real problem.”
There have been enough times over the past 12 months where iffy officiating has been crucial to the result, but on the south coast last weekend (12 November) it felt like Everton would have found a way to lose regardless.
The angry reaction from the travelling fans at the final whistle showed how poor the players had been, when the starting XI was supposed to show clear superiority to the back ups who had done so little to stake their claims in the Carabao Cup loss four days earlier.
That Pawson appeared to blatantly disregard the head injury rules, while also only giving Lewis Cook a yellow for a foul on Amadou Onana that had more than a few similarities to the one he infamously ended up red carding Allan for against Newcastle last season, was a fly in the ointment this time, as Everton went into the World Cup break on a low.