Gary Neville insists James Tarkowski was “very lucky” to get away with his “leg breaker” on Alexis Mac Allister in the Merseyside derby on Wednesday as Mike Dean dismissed PGMOL’s statement.
Diogo Jota scored the only goal of the game for Liverpool to move 12 points clear at the top of the Premier League table and bring Everton’s nine-game unbeaten run under David Moyes to an end.
A typically fiery affair was made even more tense as a result of Tarkowski’s late, late equaliser in the return fixture in February, which led Abdoulaye Doucoure and Curtis Jones to be shown red cards after the final whistle following a scuffle, with Arne Slot also given his marching orders.
And whether because of that increase in tension or not, Tarkowski went flying in on Mac Allister with a reckless challenge in the 11th minute.
The defender got the ball but followed through high on the Argentina international’s leg, leaving him writhing on the pitch in agony.
The Toffees skipper was shown a yellow card by Sam Barrett – taking charge of his first Merseyside derby – before VAR looked at the incident and decided it didn’t merit an on-pitch review.
Neville insisted Tarkowski was fortunate: “That’s a potential leg breaker. I think he’s very lucky there Tarkowski. There will be those that will say it’s a natural follow through. Trust me as a defender you do not need to follow through like that and with such force and it’s high. Very lucky.”
Jamie Carragher blamed both Barrott and VAR Paul Tierney for their “shocking” decisions.
Carragher said: “In terms of refereeing, Barrott is in a brilliant position, he has to see that. It’s a shocking tackle, we know it should be a red card. For Tierney not to give it on VAR is shocking.”
Even former Everton forward Duncan Ferguson – renowned for some tasty challenges of his own – agreed with Carragher that Tarkowski should have been sent off.
Ferguson said: “There’s no argument, straight red. He knows what he’s doing. He’s come right through him, that could have been a leg breaker. Maybe the referee it’s his first derby, he should have taken it to the monitor.”
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A PGMOL statement called Tarkowski’s foul ‘reckless’ but evidently didn’t deem it to be ‘a tackle or challenge that endangers the safety of an opponent or uses excessive force or brutality must be sanctioned as serious foul play’, which would have resulted in a red card.
The statement read: ‘The referee’s call of yellow card for a reckless foul by Tarkowski was checked by the VAR, with contact on the follow through after Tarkowski had played the ball deemed to be reckless.’
But ex-Premier League referee Mike Dean, who usually agrees with whatever decision is made by VAR, waves away the PGMOL statement and insisted Tarkowski should have been sent off.
Speaking on Sky Sports, he said: “He should have gone to the screen and he should be off. It is a horrible challenge. It is a red card all day.”