Everton shareholder Mike Parry loses it as Dominic Calvert-Lewin goal is ruled out at Manchester United
Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s second Everton equaliser at Old Trafford being ruled out by “some robotic clown” enraged club shareholder Mike Parry on Friday night.
With Manchester United leading 2-1 late in the third round FA Cup tie Demarai Gray produced a wonderful flick for Seamus Coleman to run onto in the attacking third, before the captain found the winger again down the right.
Gray beat Tyrell Malacia inside the area and smashed the ball across for Calvert-Lewin to divert past David de Gea, only for the celebrations to be cut short for a marginal offside call in the build up from the VAR, which left Parry furious.
Writing on Twitter following the sequence on Friday night (6 January), and possibly unclear about which part of the move the offside call came from, Parry said: “That’s utterly and absolutely pathetic to rule Everton’s 2nd goal off-side.
“Utd’s goalkeeper De Gea knew he’d been beaten .. not one Man U defender appealed .. some robotic clown a hundred miles away looked for the width of a human hair .. Football’s going to hell in a hand-cart.”
Harsh
Gray’s work and Calvert-Lewin’s finish deserved a goal, and the traveling Toffees faithful deserved their celebrations after loudly backing the team throughout the match.
It was tight enough that technologically-assisted decisions should surely be made to give a more generous margin of error to the attacking player.
At that point in the game Everton were showing the kind of fight that has so often been missing from their play of late, so to have the goal ruled out was cruel, especially when a very soft penalty in stoppage time made the scoreline then look even worse.
It may have been a cup game that doesn’t actually change the situation in the Premier League, but a win or even a replay would have been a psychological boost to a beaten down side.
Away trips to Manchester appear to be the only way to get something resembling the best out of this team at the moment, so to ultimately go down swinging to an own goal, a penalty, a disallowed equaliser and an injury to a key man is particularly galling for Frank Lampard.
The manager has a battle to keep his job but there were some encouraging signs at Old Trafford, and he absolutely must inspire something of a repeat in the relegation six-pointer against Southampton next weekend (14 January), and hope for some better luck at the same time.