Arne Slot managed to come through his second Merseyside derby without any of the disciplinary sanctions which marred his first a few weeks ago, but he’ll still have been despairing over a few decisions made the officials last night.
Aside from Liverpool getting a much-needed win, the standout talking point from the match was James Tarkowski’s dangerous lunge on Alexis Mac Allister, for which he somehow escaped with only a yellow card, even after it was reviewed by VAR.
Towards the end of the game, Jordan Pickford also got away with a high and unnecessary challenge on Darwin Nunez (who was inexplicably booked after getting to his feet) because the whistle had gone a few seconds before the contact from the Everton goalkeeper.
In between those two incidents, there was a moment in the 64th minute which’ll surely have had Slot shaking his head over the standard of officiating on Wednesday night.
Jota booked despite clearly being fouled
As Diogo Jota chased a long ball towards the corner of the Kop and the Main Stand, he was evidently being manhandled by Vitaliy Mykolenko for at least five seconds, with the assistant referee literally two metres away from it with an unimpeded view.
The play eventually went dead as the ball went out for a throw-in following a duel between the Liverpool goalscorer and Carlos Alcaraz, with the linesman giving it Everton’s way, much to the disgust of the Reds’ number 20, who was then booked for dissent and sarcastically applauded that decision.
Slot must be despairing over some decisions last night
Admittely Jota was taking a risk with his reaction to the yellow card, but anyone who can’t see why he was so frustrated in the first place must be helplessly blinkered.
The assistant referee couldn’t have wished for a better view of Mykolenko’s extended wrestling with the 28-year-old, which frankly was a blatant foul that somehow went unpunished (and this one didn’t have the get-out clause of the play being stopped which later saved Pickford from sanction).
The officials have dozens of decisions to make throughout a football match, many of which will be 50-50 calls open to interpretation. When they’re failing to act upon what should be straightforward calls, though, that’s a problem.
Referee Sam Barrott could also have blown for a free kick when Jota was hauled back, though it seemed that he was entrusting that to his assistant who was much better-placed but completely abdicated his duty.
It was only the forward’s second yellow card in the Premier League all season, so thankfully he won’t be at risk of suspension, but it left him walking a tightrope until he was substituted 10 minutes later, and it doesn’t excuse the officials for failing to penalise Mykolenko.
Slot must’ve been fit to explode at the time, but at least now he can simply laugh about this latest example of head-scratching officiating in England’s top flight.
You can see the incident with Jota and Mykolenko below, via Sky Sports Premier League on YouTube:
