Everton robbed vs Liverpool as former FIFA official speaks out
Everton fell to another Merseyside derby defeat on Saturday as Liverpool ran out 2-1 victors at Anfield.
After a poor first-half display, which saw Everton go 2-0 down, the Toffees put together an impressive performance in the second half, but were unable to complete their comeback.
Idrissa Gueye scored the only goal for the visitors, as they fell to their first defeat since their first game of the new campaign.
However, the result on Saturday could have easily been different, with Darren England making plenty of controversial decisions throughout the Merseyside derby.
Goodison News presents the exclusive opinion of former Premier League and FIFA-listed referee Keith Hackett.
Keith Hackett: Iliman Ndiaye was fouled before Liverpool’s opener
Ryan Gravenberch opened the scoring for Liverpool in the Merseyside derby with an early goal.
However, while the strike was impressive by the midfielder, what happened beforehand has caused controversy.
In the build-up to the goal, Cody Gakpo managed to win the ball from Iliman Ndiaye, which eventually resulted in Liverpool’s goal.
Looking back at the incident, Keith Hackett exclusively told Goodison News that he believed the Toffees winger was fouled in the build-up.
- Gravenberch netted the opener during the Merseyside derby
- However, there was a potentially a foul on Grealish and Ndiaye just before the goal
- Yet, England deemed that both challenges were fine
He said: “The second clip shows clearly that a foul has taken place and should have been penalised by the referee.”
This is simply unacceptable from England. It was stated that Jack Grealish was fouled minutes before Liverpool’s opener in another incident that could have prevented the goal.
Gravenberch’s opener allowed the hosts to dominate throughout the first half, something that wasn’t corrected until half-time.
Therefore, if the referee had simply done his job, the game could have been completely different.
David Moyes needs to ensure Everton quickly bounce back
While the defeat in the derby will hurt, there were plenty of positives to take from the match.
Before the match, the Toffees were sixth, with Everton being tipped to qualify for Europe this season.
Now, Moyes has to ensure that those previous performances aren’t forgotten, and quickly recover against Wolves in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.
A win here, followed by another victory against West Ham next week, would see the Liverpool defeat become a distant memory.
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