Abdoulaye Doucoure reveals referee apology after ‘awful’ Brighton decision
Abdoulaye Doucoure has revealed referee Tim Robinson apologised to him after blowing the whistle early when the midfielder would have been through on goal for Everton against Brighton.
Doucoure slammed the “awful” decision, claiming he couldn’t understand why the referee had decided to blow his whistle instead of letting play continue during what was a good chance to make it 2-0.
The midfielder also praised the fight and determination his teammates showed in the 1-1 draw, despite the ultimate result where he claims the deflected goal “killed” them.
Speaking to the Liverpool Echo on 6 November, Doucoure revealed: “I think the first one in the first half, when Dominic went down, I was alone, to be honest, and the referee just blows the whistle.
“I don’t know why, because I was alone, and it was a very big chance, to be honest. Some day some awful decision, I think.
“He apologised after it. He said ‘I blew the whistle too early’, but this afternoon we fought; we had some good chances to win the game, but we conceded that goal that killed us at the end.”
Too little, too late
Apologies from referees are starting to become a running theme this season, but every club that received one will hold the same sentiment, apologies are not good enough if the decision costs them the game.
While the decision may not have been what turned three points into one for the toffees, a 2-0 lead would almost certainly have seen them through to the final whistle given that the eventual equaliser was an unfortunate deflection off of Ashley Young and Brighton otherwise struggled to threaten.
Sean Dyche’s side showed plenty of fight and determination, and their game plan was executed to near-perfection before the unfortunate effort looped over Jordan Pickford, but ultimately the number of poor decisions in the game stacked up against the Toffees.
As well as Doucoure’s prevented opportunity, there were also several penalty shouts for Everton and Dominic Calvert-Lewin that looked like they should have been given but weren’t. Dyche’s men would be right to feel hard done by.
In other Everton news, a journalist has mooted a possible transfer embargo.