Everton: Sean Dyche baffled by ‘absolutely bizarre’ incident in Newcastle United showdown
Everton manager Sean Dyche was left baffled by the “absolutely bizarre” length of time it took to award the Toffees a penalty in their draw with Newcastle United.
The Blues picked up a valuable point at St James’ Park with a 1-1 draw on Tuesday (2 April), with Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s second-half penalty cancelling out Alexander Isak’s first-half effort.
While it seemed clear that Paul Dummett had hacked Ashley Young down inside the penalty area, it took an extended VAR check to award the spot-kick and Dyche was left confused and frustrated by the officials’ work.
As quoted by Mail Online on Wednesday (3 April) he said: “The penalty of course, we’ve only had one this season, should have had another one Saturday but we didn’t get that.
“I don’t know why they have to look at that a hundred times, it’s absolutely bizarre because I’ve seen it back and it gets given straight away. Anyway, they did get to the right decision so we’re pleased with that, and Dom put it away so we’re pleased for him as well.”
Will Everton avoid relegation from the Premier League this season?
As Dyche said, the Toffees have barely been handed a penalty so far this season so they cannot have too many complaints after they were finally headed a spot-kick in the Premier League, but Tuesday’s check took far too long.
While the important thing is that the VAR and the referee managed to come to the right decision in the end, VAR will always be criticised when it takes this long to make a decision as it genuinely impacts the game.
Everton have felt as though the Premier League are against them this season, whether that be over off-the-field issues or matters on the pitch. Still, any suggestions of conspiracy can finally be dropped now the Toffees have been given a penalty.
Hopefully, this indicates a shift in the Toffees’ luck and they can get back to winning ways sooner rather than later. If they don’t, relegation could become a genuine possibility, especially as another point deduction looms.
In other Everton news, one pundit has suggested the Toffees “could plummet” through the divisions like Rangers
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