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- Fans were outraged after the VAR invited the referee to review their initial call
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The reasons as to why Everton’s late penalty against Man United was overturned by VAR have now been revealed.
In the final moments of the 2-2 draw at Goodison Park, Toffees fans were sent into a frenzy when referee Andy Madley pointed to the spot in the 93rd minute.
The decision came after former United player Ashley Young was sent crashing to the floor as he was challenged by Harry Maguire and Matthijs De Ligt inside the box.
However, Everton’s hopes of snatching a late victory were dashed when Madley reversed his decision after being advised to go the monitor by VAR official Matthew Donohue and the game ended 2-2.
Toffees boss David Moyes was left incensed by the decision but it’s now been revealed as to why the initial call was overturned.
According to ESPN, the incident must be broken down into separates moments – starting with the referee’s call to award a penalty for a foul by Maguire on Young.
Everton were controversially denied a late penalty in their 2-2 draw against Manchester United
Ashley Young appeared to be fouled in the penalty area by Harry Maguire or Matthijs de Ligt
Upon review, the United defender could be seen with his hand on Young’s hip however did not make an effort to hold or pull the Everton wing-back.
The VAR therefore judged that Maguire’s efforts alone were not enough to send Young tumbling to the ground and, thus, viewed it as ‘a clear and obvious error’ which had to be overturned.
There is then the topic of De Ligt’s role in the incident, having also been seen making contact with Young before he went to ground.
The outlet claim that ‘had the referee given the penalty for the Netherlands international’s actions there would have been no VAR review’. However, the referee had penalised Maguire, not De Ligt.
Due to this, VAR officials then had to decide as to whether De Ligt’s actions were worthy of a review, if the referee had given nothing.
While officials did believe that De Ligt was holding Young during the passage of play, they described it as a ‘fleeting’ incident and that the Everton star had an exaggerated fall.
This, therefore, didn’t meet the threshold for a clear and obvious error for a penalty.
Moreover, due to the fact that Madley opted to penalise Maguire and not De Ligt, he was only shown reviews from angles that centred over the England defender. For this reason, he was not shown the goal-mouth camera angle.
Speaking after the match, meanwhile, Moyes insisted that referee Andy Madley was wrong to overturn an injury-time penalty for Everton.
The VAR recommended Andy Madley to review his original decision to give Everton a penalty
The VAR also took an age to decide if Everton’s opening goal was onside but eventually gave it
‘I can’t understand. He (De Ligt) pulled his jersey,’ said Moyes. ‘I just thought the referee made the correct decision at the time and he should stick with it.
‘I think everybody who watches football we’re all looking forward to seeing a referee saying ‘no, no I’m sticking with it’.
‘If it’s absolutely clear and obvious that’s what we’ve got VAR for, but I didn’t think it needed to get involved.
‘It’s frustrating. It looked to me like the shirt pull needed to be given. You shouldn’t be getting away with pulling jerseys.
‘I thought he must have been pulled back or tripped up. It was only when I saw it on the screen when I came back in that I saw the pull on the jersey. Ash has been a forward player for most of his career and part of your job is to get penalties.’
