Everton fans certainly weren’t best pleased with Craig Pawson’s decision not to award a penalty against Newcastle, and Howard Webb has now offered his opinion on the matter.
Sean Dyche had some Everton fans calling for him to be sacked not so long ago, and now he heads into the international break off the back of four points in two games.
Newcastle made the trip to Goodison Park on Sunday in what turned out to be a highly controversial encounter, with two incidents being brought up after.
One involved a penalty not being given to Everton after Dominic Calvert-Lewin appeared to have been impeded by Dan Burn, which shocked Stephen Warnock after it wasn’t given by VAR.
The second involved James Tarkowski and Sandro Tonali, with Ben Foster claiming that it was a ridiculous decision by VAR not to award the penalty.
Now, Howard Webb has come out with his own verdict on the Dominic Calvert-Lewin incident.
Howard Webb speaks out on Dominic Calvert-Lewin penalty incident during Everton vs Newcastle
Dominic Calvert-Lewin wasn’t too pleased with Craig Pawson and VAR’s decision not to award him a penalty, as he stated that he was about to put the ball in the back of the net.
Now, Howard Webb has given his verdict on the incident and sides with Craig Pawson and VAR.
When speaking on Match Officials Mic’d Up, he said this.
“I don’t think it’s a penalty either. I think it’s a really good on-field judgment as well. We see that Nick Pope makes a save and the ball rebounds and then two players, Calvert-Lewin and Burn, are moving towards that loose ball.
“Importantly, Burn moves in a straight line in a normal way and gets his foot in front of Calvert-Lewin. He doesn’t deviate his foot into Calvert-Lewin or move towards him in that way.
“Of course we see Calvert-Lewin then swinging to take a shot and making contact with Burn from behind, but Burn’s foot is already there in a pretty normal way so I don’t think it’s a foul by Burn and I think it’s all a normal coming-together between the two players and a good judgment on the field.”
Everton fans will feel hard done by after Howard Webb’s verdict
It’s clear that the consensus among the majority of Everton fans was that it should have been a penalty.
Dan Burn panics and tries to put Dominic Calvert-Lewin off by putting his leg and body into the Everton man, impeding the Englishman’s swinging leg.
He does kick the back of Burn’s leg, as Webb states, but the Newcastle man appears to purposely launch his leg and body sideways into the Everton striker as he lines up his shot.
It’s clumsy to say the least, but it’s one of those that will divide opinion.
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