Everton goal rightly disallowed vs Fulham rules Dermot Gallagher as Sky Sports pundit admits he was ‘furious’
Stephen Warnock was “furious” when Michael Keane’s goal for Everton against Fulham was ruled out because he thought it was “goalkeepers getting looked after again”.
The Sky Sports pundit was speaking on Sky Sports News’ Ref Watch on Monday (14 August) and maintains the decision to disallow the goal for a foul by James Tarkowski on Bernd Leno was wrong, although ex-referee Dermot Gallagher says it ultimately resulted in the correct outcome.
Fulham keeper Leno dropped the ball onto the Toffees captain in the 1-0 defeat on Saturday before Keane swept the ball into an empty net, with Tarkowski penalised for the coming together, but Gallagher says it would have been offside either way.
The former Premier League official said: “I might be able to convince you that they have actually got to the right decision… I think it’s a very, very harsh foul but if you watch and run it from the side the guy who scores is actually offside.
“So when the ball goes in the net, if the referee hadn’t have whistled, would have been given offside by VAR anyhow… Right decision, wrong homework.”
Warnock said: “I was furious when I first saw it because I thought it’s goalkeepers getting looked after again, and I think that was one of the big things.
“We all thought, and it was, for the the collision, and hopefully they learn from that because that is not a foul.”
Error
It might reduce some of the frustration at the result, although only as far as it was just Everton’s failure to take their chances rather than being robbed of a goal by Stuart Attwell.
But the referee ultimately got away with a mistake at a crucial time since he blew his whistle and stopped the game for a foul that wasn’t.
It is too early in the season for the Toffees to dwell on that point but it isn’t a particularly encouraging sign for big decisions going forward to kick off with that.
More importantly the Toffees are going to need to find the net more often to avoid results hinging on situations like that, with a loss on the opening day in a game where they were well on top is a highly frustrating start.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin being fit would be a huge boost since a firing version of the number nine opens the whole team up so much.
But it isn’t just down to strikers and Nathan Patterson hitting the bar with the goal gaping is symptomatic of not making opportunities count.
It’s early days but Sean Dyche will be looking for much better in front of goal as soon as possible and will likely to continue to push for signings to help make it happen.
In other Everton news, the Toffees are now set to sell a first-team ace in the wake of completing an important signing.