Everton: New footage emerges of Seamus Coleman screaming two words amid Calvert-Lewin controversy v Crystal Palace
Everton captain Seamus Coleman was left raging at VAR as referee Chris Kavanagh went to view the screen after Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s tackle on Nathaniel Clyne in their FA Cup 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace.
Footage emerged from fan site Everton Extra on Twitter (5 January) of the Ireland international going over to the VAR screen at Selhurst Park on Thursday evening (4 January) as Kavanagh went to view the incident after being directed to the monitor by VAR officials.
Coleman could be screaming “No way, no way” before Kavanagh viewed the incident and changed his on-filed decision to hand Calvert-Lewin a red card in the 79th minute of the 0-0 draw.
BBC Sport journalist Shamoon Hafeez tweeted on Friday (5 January) that the Toffees are considering appealing the red card as the Englishman faces a three-game ban after receiving the first sending-off of his career.
Dreadful
It was a dreadful decision from both VAR and the referee as Calvert-Lewin’s tackle looked nowhere near one which looked like “excessive” or reckless force. In fact, it was a clean one and the Everton man now faces undeserved punishment for it.
This is a decision that Everton simply have to appeal because there is absolutely no way that the challenge was deserving of a red card.
While there was slight contact made with the defender’s leg, it wasn’t reckless and out of control, and it almost certainly wasn’t a “clear and obvious” error by Kavanagh to not send him off originally.
Once again, we have seen a game controlled by VAR in the wrong way and it is ruining the sport. In real-time, Calvert-Lewin’s tackle was clean but when footage like that can be slowed down, it will always look worse.
Referees cannot be making decisions like that based on slowed-down images, there have been so many worse incidents that have gone unchecked in recent weeks and this Calvert-Lewin tackle dreadfully gets checked and punished.
The Toffees simply can’t afford to be without their main forward going into the next three games as they sit just one point above third-bottom Luton Town in the Premier League. Coleman was absolutely right to be incensed as the decision.
In other Everton news, Paul Brown has mooted a new contract for an exit-linked Toffees player.