Everton fans ‘will be furious’ at reason behind contentious Man United decision
Everton were left livid after an outrageous VAR decision during the 2-2 draw with Manchester United on Saturday.
The Blues led through first-half goals from Beto and Abdoulaye Doucoure but threw away their commanding lead in the second half.
The Toffees thought that they had a chance to win the contest in the dying embers when Ashley Young was dragged down in the penalty area by Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire.
Andy Madley originally pointed to the spot but overturned the decision after VAR had sent him to the monitor.
Everton denied penalty due to referee decision
The Blues were denied a penalty because Maguire was ruled as the guilty party rather than De Ligt.
According to a report from ESPN (24 February), the VAR judged that Maguire’s contact was not enough to bring the Toffees star down and viewed it as ‘a clear and obvious error’ to award the penalty as a result.
| Premier League 24/25 | Played | GD | Points |
| 14. Everton | 26 | -4 | 31 |
| 15. Manchester United | 26 | -7 | 30 |
Due to the focus on the England star, the referee was not shown the goalmouth angles that clearly show the extent of De Ligt’s holding.
The report states that had the referee awarded the spot kick for the Dutch international’s actions, there would not have been a review.
Manchester United got lucky in Everton draw
While Young did go down easily, there was not enough evidence to overturn the original penalty call- Maguire and Ruben Amorim were very lucky.
Former PGMOL chief Keith Hackett exclusively told Goodison News that the incident was “indefensible” but warned Blues supporters not to expect to hear from current referee’s boss Howard Webb.
Another former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher believes that De Ligt should have been penalised for his involvement in the incident and questioned if the officials missed it because they were too busy focusing on Maguire.
The controversy surrounding the call will not go away anytime soon despite the explanation that has been provided and rightly so – it was a ludicrous decision and denied the Toffees a deserved three points.
David Moyes can take plenty of encouragement despite the disappointing nature of the result as the Goodison Park outfit were the much better side for the majority of the contest.
The Scotsman has guided his team on a six-match unbeaten run in the Premier League that has catapulted them to 14th place.