Everton fans were left scratching their heads when the penalty award decision against Manchester United last month was overturned by VAR.
There was frustration after the game at Goodison Park, mainly because Everton had given up a two-goal lead.
Beto had put Everton in front, with Abdoulaye Doucoure then doubling the Toffees’ lead.
David Moyes’ side were cruising, with United looking dead and buried.
But the Red Devils mounted a comeback, finding goals through Bruno Fernandes and Manuel Ugarte.
But most of the talk about the game was about that decision in injury-time.
Ashley Young went to ground and referee Andy Madley blew for a penalty. But VAR intervened, made Madley look a the screen, showed Madley some strange angles, and the decision was overturned.
The reaction of Young to the VAR decision was one of utter disbelief, which was shared by Evertonians.
Alan Shearer called the decision that went against Everton ‘mind-blowing’, and now the KMI panel’s reasons why VAR were right to intervene have been shared.
- READ MORE: TNT commentator explains what VAR told him after Everton vs Manchester United penalty incident
The main reason why Everton saw penalty disallowed vs Man United
The findings of the Premier League’s KMI panel have today been published by ESPN.
The KMI panel have ruled on the penalty that Everton saw overturned against United and there is one key reason why VAR was correct to intervene.
ESPN say they’ve seen notes that read: “The contact from the defenders doesn’t match the exaggerated fall from the attacker.”
It is stated that one panelist did take issue in that ‘the referee should not have been sent to the monitor as it wasn’t a clear and obvious error due to the foot-on-foot contact by Maguire and shirt pull on Young by de Ligt which wasn’t shown to the referee’.
But the panel voted unanimously 5-0 that Madley should never have given the penalty in the first place.
Everton fans will disagree
Everton fans are highly unlikely to agree with the comments of the KMI panel about the penalty overturn decision against United.
Ultimately, there was enough contact on Young and clear pulling of the shirt. Granted, he probably didn’t do himself too many favours, but the contact was clear.
It remains baffling why Madley was shown the angles he was.
Thankfully, this incident will not affect Everton too much, with the Toffees having pulled clear of the relegation zone.
But the way the officials dealt with this decision will again lead to questions about the standards of officiating in the Premier League.
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