Sky Sports pundits clash with Dermot Gallagher over Everton controversy v Tottenham
Sue Smith and Jay Bothroyd clashed with Dermot Gallagher after Everton weren’t handed a penalty in the game against Tottenham on Saturday (3 February).
Speaking on Sky Sports’ Ref Watch on Monday (5 February), the former Premier League referee agreed with the officials that there wasn’t enough contact as Radu Dragusin shoved Beto in the final stages of the match at Goodison Park.
But Smith argued that there “must be a foul” on the 26-year-old Portuguese as the Spurs defender was pulling his shirt, with Bothroyd adding that the Toffees forward wasn’t allowed to go and jump for the ball as he also argued that it should have been a penalty in the 2-2 draw.
“Referee didn’t fancy it [as a penalty],” said Gallagher. “The referee clearly waves it away, so what he feeds back [to VAR] is I don’t think there’s enough contact. The VAR can only intervene if they think he’s made a clear and obvious error. I don’t think it’s a penalty.”
“He would surely just go to head the ball if he’s not fouled,” added Smith. “There must be a foul. You can see he’s pulling his shirt.”
“It’s cute play from the defender,” said Bothroyd. “He’s nudged him and pulled his shirt to put him off, so he wasn’t able to go and jump for it. I think that should have been a penalty.”
Everton unfortunate against Tottenham
It was another game where Everton were extremely unfortunate not to be handed a penalty after Dragusin clearly had hold of Beto’s shirt and bundled him to the ground.
There is no reason why the forward would have gone down if he wasn’t fouled as he could have got a header in on goal for his side.
It’s just another incident where the fans are disillusioned by the officiating and VAR has done very little to help the on-field referee get to the right decision.
If the referee had given that on the pitch, then there is absolutely no way that VAR would have overturned it as it was clear as day.
It’s just getting to the point now where the Toffees are going to have to accept that penalties aren’t going to be coming their way this season following yet another officiating blunder at Goodison Park.
In other Everton news, Ally McCoist has shared a new Toffees relegation prediction live on talkSPORT.
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