Everton supporters have been waiting for an official verdict on the Thierno Barry VAR goal that was ruled out against Ipswich Town, and the Premier League’s Key Match Incidents panel has now delivered one. The independent panel split 3-2 in backing the decision to disallow Barry’s effort, confirming that the officials got the call right on the balance of opinion, even if it was far from unanimous.
It’s the kind of verdict that will frustrate Evertonians who felt hard done by on the day. Two of the five panellists disagreed with the majority and argued that the goal should have stood, which shows just how fine the margins were on this one.
Barry disallowed goal vs Ipswich Town
Barry turned the ball home during Everton’s game with Ipswich Town, only to see the goal chalked off after a VAR review. Officials ruled that teammate Johnson, in an offside position close to the goalkeeper, had interfered with Walton’s ability to deal with the ball.
The Key Match Incidents panel examined the incident and found in favour of the officials by a 3-2 majority. In its written findings, the panel said:
The VAR intervention to disallow the goal for interfering with an opponent by Johnson was supported, 3:2. Johnson was clearly in an offside position, in very close proximity to the goalkeeper and makes a movement, impacting the goalkeeper’s ability to set and move to the ball. Two panellists felt that Johnson’s position and actions did not impact goalkeeper Walton.
That split tells its own story. The majority judged that Johnson’s movement restricted Walton’s options enough to justify ruling the goal out, while two panellists felt the forward’s presence made no real difference to the save. The panel’s verdict on the Thierno Barry VAR goal leaves no doubt about the legal basis for the decision, even if the vote was tight.
Supporters can revisit Barry’s disallowed goal against Ipswich Town for the full picture from matchday, along with key stats from the Ipswich match that shaped the afternoon.
Anderson handball call vs Sunderland
A separate Key Match Incidents review, published alongside the Barry verdict, looked at Manchester City’s 5-3 win over Sunderland. Referee Rob Jones waved away Sunderland’s appeal for a handball against Elliot Anderson, and VAR backed his call.
The panel voted 3-2 to support Jones’ on-field decision of no penalty, again a narrow outcome. Its findings read:
The referee’s call of no penalty for a potential handball offence against Anderson was supported, 3:2. Both players were engaged and the ball was bouncing at close proximity after deflecting off Le Fee. Two panellists felt that there was a deliberate secondary movement of the arm from Anderson that was a handball offence.
As with the Barry incident, the minority view carried real weight. Two panellists believed Anderson moved his arm deliberately towards the ball, which would meet the legal definition of handball, while the majority pointed to how closely both players were engaged and how quickly the ball bounced off Le Fee.
Full detail on both rulings appears in the Premier League KMI panel findings, published this week.
Panel verdict on Salisbury VAR check
The panel also assessed the role of Michael Salisbury, the VAR for Manchester City’s game with Sunderland, to establish whether he was right to let Jones’ no-penalty call stand. By a wider 4-1 majority, the panel agreed that Salisbury made the correct decision not to intervene.
That contrast matters. A tight 3-2 verdict on the on-field call, followed by a near-unanimous 4-1 backing for the VAR’s choice not to step in, shows how differently panellists can judge the same phase of play once they move from the initial decision to the threshold for review.
For Everton, the pattern will feel familiar. The Barry goal was also disallowed by a 3-2 panel vote, which underlines how often these marginal calls split opinion even among those reviewing the footage after the fact. It feeds into the wider criticism of Premier League decisions among supporters, though nothing in the panel’s findings points to anything beyond a genuinely close call.
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