Jack Grealish has blasted the officiating on show in the Merseyside derby as Liverpool held off an Everton fightback to emerge 2-1 victors.
Eyebrows were raised when only three minutes of stoppage time were added on after the clock had ticked over 90 minutes, with a numerous second-half free-kicks and substitutions bringing about significant pauses in play.
Everton were also left baffled by a yellow card shown to midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, with the Englishman cautioned by referee Darren England for taking a free-kick too quickly.
Grealish, who himself was booked for remonstrating the referee after the full-time whistle, has criticised the referee for this decision in particular.
“I’ve never seen a player in my whole life get booked for taking a quick free-kick,” he told TNT Sports. “I don’t know where that rule has come in.
“Even the stoppage-time, three minutes and one minute – I’ve never seen that in the Premier League in the last two or three years.
“There were frustrations with the referee. Sometimes you want to let the game go, I completely get that, but you can’t not give us something and then two seconds later one of their defenders goes down after getting touched in the back and he gives it.
“You come to these stadiums and the crowd are on them, I feel that they feel they have to give it. Kiernan (Dewsbury-Hall) is on four yellows now and he got one for taking a quick free-kick. We want to get the game going, we’re losing.”
Everton were left to rue their first half-hour as Liverpool stormed into a two-goal lead thanks to goals from Ryan Gravenberch and Hugo Ekitike.
The Toffees were much improved after the break, though, halving the deficit through Idrissa Gueye with 32 minutes of normal time still to play.
But as they searched for a late equaliser, they were left frustrated by the lack of additional time indicated by the fourth official.
“Three minutes was very strange,” Moyes added. “Every quick free-kick had to be stopped and brought back for the whistle and then we get a booking for it. I find it quite unbelievable.”
