Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite has criticised the quality of officiating in the Premier League following Saturday’s Merseyside derby defeat.
The 21-year-old states that there is ‘no consistency’ regarding decision making and insists that he doesn’t know how Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate escaped a sending off after a ‘blatant’ foul.
Referee Craig Pawson dismissed Ashley Young after 37 minutes for a second bookable offence but failed to take the same action against Konate who pulled down substitute Beto whilst already on a booking.
Speaking with the Liverpool Echo, Branthwaite said: “Beto went past Konate who is on a yellow already, he takes him down and it’s clear. I don’t know how it’s not a second yellow card. He’s gone right through the middle of the pitch, it’s one v one, it’s a blatant yellow but he hasn’t given it so we can’t do anything about that now. That’s the problem, there’s no consistency throughout the refereeing.
If he gets sent off, it’s back to a level playing field and probably a different game but we’re down to 10 men and against it all game because of the decision he hasn’t given to award the second yellow for Konate and we’re up against it for the rest of the match.”
Everton affected by poor refereeing once again as Merseyside Derby predictably goes Liverpool’s way
The Blues showed character and put in a shift at Anfield, though ultimately the game went completely to script with Liverpool the eventual 2-0 winners.
A Michael Keane handball with 15 minutes remaining provided Pawson with the opportunity to award Liverpool a penalty, meaning that the 30-year-old has conceded three of the last four spot kicks to be awarded against Everton.
No doubt it was a penalty, but had Konate been sent off at 0-0, it would have at least evened the playing field, though evidently sporting integrity matters considerably less this week than it did a fortnight ago.