Three minutes into stoppage time, referee Andrew Madley pointed to the spot after Ashley Young went down in the box.
Everton appeared to have been handed the opportunity to win Saturday’s Premier League match, having been pegged back to 2-2 by a determined United side. ..Continue Reading
Madley initially awarded the penalty, believing that Maguire had fouled Young. However, replays revealed minimal contact from the England international to bring the Everton winger down.
Moyes and many others thought the penalty was given for Matthijs de Ligt’s shirt pulls: one on Young’s side and another on his back.
In Moyes’ post-match press conference, a journalist read out the Premier League’s statement on the incident which read: “VAR checked the referee’s call of penalty to Everton for a challenge by Maguire on Young and deemed that no foul had been committed and recommended an on-field review. The referee overturned the original decision and play restarted with a drop ball.”
Moyes asked: “So, did they look at the shirt pull? Did they mention the shirt pull on him?” Having been told ‘no’ by the same reporter, the Everton manager has now even more reason to be furious.
ESPN explains that because Madley was sent to the pitch-side monitor to review the potential foul by Maguire, the video assistant referee (VAR), Matt Donohue, couldn’t independently support awarding the penalty for a different reason, such as De Ligt tugging Young’s shirt.
The VAR needed to determine whether De Ligt’s actions constituted a clear and obvious error on Madley’s part since the referee didn’t initially call the potential foul on-field. Holding a player’s shirt isn’t automatically an offense, as VAR considers factors such as the duration of the shirt hold and whether the player’s fall aligns with the act.
Donohue concluded that De Ligt’s shirt holding was ‘fleeting’ and that Young exaggerated his fall. Consequently, this specific incident didn’t meet the threshold for a clear and obvious error that would warrant a penalty for Everton.
Based on similar incidents and decisions this season, it would have been challenging to justify a standalone review for De Ligt’s actions.
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher told Sky Sports that he believes Madley was shown the ‘wrong angles,’ but this wasn’t relevant to the specific incident.
In fact, the VAR showed Madley the necessary angles for Maguire’s potential foul because that was the focus of the review, not De Ligt’s shirt pulls.
It’s likely that Madley still saw the two shirt pulls on the screen but didn’t request further angles, and VAR didn’t instruct him to review De Ligt’s potential foul.
Fans may gain insight into the decision-making process when the next ‘Match Officials Mic’d Up’ episode airs.
