Everton may have been crushed by Brighton and Hove Albion on paper, but yesterday’s loss was born of numerous underlying errors that slowly handed the win to the visitors rather than a complete collapse.
After all, Sean Dyche’s side actually started the game quite well, going forward with pace and attacking the full-backs, seeing one goal disallowed for offside just before Dwight McNeil then struck the post too.
However, individual mistakes once again proved costly, with Idrissa Gana Gueye gifting the Seagulls a second, before Ashley Young’s rashness once again reared its ugly head resulting in a red card.
Arguably though, the most important error made was not by an Everton player, but instead the VAR operators, who made a farce of the system once again early in the second half.
Everton VAR mess has given the Premier League a decision to make
Coming fast out the blocks again in the second half, Everton pressed well to force a mistake from Brighton as they sought to play out from the back.
With Jack Harrison again the chief danger man, his cross found Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who sought to spin and shoot before being taken down by Lewis Dunk’s tackle from behind.
Simon Hooper didn’t hesitate, pointing to the spot and awarding the Toffees a penalty on the opening day of the Premier League season. They had to wait until March last campaign for such an outcome.
However, such joy and hope was quickly expunged when the referee held his ear, indicating that he was being spoken to by the VAR officials.
Asked to look at the monitor, which has now been moved over to the Lower Bullens, those inside the Main Stand were on hand to witness a true mess: the VAR monitor wasn’t working.
BBC Sport later confirmed that Everton’s penalty was overturned on the advice of those in Stockley Park rather than what Hooper himself had seen, despite Joe Hart’s efforts to defend the referee at Everton.
What is the point of Premier League referees?
If it is true that Hooper didn’t even look at a replay, with there having been no evidence of the elusive backup monitor, then it brings up a whole host of questions regarding officiating in this country.
Chiefly, what is actually the point of referees?
After all, if they are now going to set this precedent where what VAR says takes the lead, then why not just leave all the big decisions to those with the best view who are apparently more important than the referees themselves?
It would save the FA a whole lot of money, and prevent Goodison Park from having to boo every time a referee’s name is read out prior to kick-off.
Obviously, this is just a one-off incident, but it does say a lot about the officiating hierarchy.
All this speculation would be put to bed if they could just prove that there was a backup monitor that was actually consulted. Until then, the need for referees is becoming less and less important, as VAR clearly has the final say on all subjective matters.
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