Stuart Attwell slammed over ‘ridiculous’ Everton controversy amid World Cup desperation
Stuart Attwell has been accused of trying “like a bear” to get to the World Cup after his VAR intervention in the Everton loss to Tottenham.
As the video assistant at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Sunday Attwell recommended Craig Pawson review Jake O’Brien’s headed equaliser in the first half.
The referee opted to disallow the goal as he adjudged Iliman Ndiaye and Jack Grealish to be offside and interfering with Guglielmo Vicario in the Spurs goal.
Everton went on to lose 3-0 to Tottenham with Richard Keys aghast at the O’Brien decision on the day, and he has followed up with heavy criticism of the two officials since.
Richard Keys slams Attwell and Craig Pawson over Everton VAR call
Having argued that Sunderland were lucky to get away with their late winner at Chelsea on the grounds of an interfering player in an offside position, Keys branded it “ridiculous” to have gone the other way on Merseyside.
The beIN Sports host claimed the call, which had cancelled out Mickey van de Ven’s opener mid-way through the first half, made all the difference to the final result.
He rounded on Pawson for not standing up to VAR Attwell, who was ridiculed for his apparent desperation to make it to the World Cup next summer after getting involved.
Writing on his blog Keys said: “Nothing was made of Sunderland’s winner, but Stuart Attwell (VAR) took it upon himself to disallow Everton’s equaliser v Spurs, for much the same reason I’m arguing Sunderland’s first was a little fortune. The decision changed the whole game.
“It was a ridiculous call. Craig Pawson was weak and should’ve ignored Attwell, who’s trying like a bear to impress enough people to get a WC call up.”
Premier League officials’ reputation continues to suffer
Few will be able to actually remember a time where top flight officials were afforded genuine respect across the board but the general view of them has rarely seemed lower.
If Attwell, who is openly derided in the media as incompetent fairly often, feels he’s in with a shout of being sent to the US next summer then it tells its own story.
The introduction of VAR has done the opposite of enhancing the reputations of those who use it, with even the de-facto top two of Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor now regularly criticised.
By the letter of the law O’Brien‘s goal was possibly right to be ruled out but there are doubts as to whether Vicario would have saved even without Ndiaye and Grealish near him.
It surely would have been a different game if Everton had levelled at that point but Spurs took full advantage to win by a scoreline more comfortable than the action suggested.
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