ESPN FC editor Dale Johnson has asserted that Chris Kavanagh’s decision to award a penalty to Everton was the right one but that the official should have also sent off Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The referee pointed to the spot after Dominic Calvert-Lewin was brought down to the turf, tripping over Trent Alexander-Arnold.
VAR review was to overturn the penalty, not for a red card.
Chris Kavanagh obviously very confident in his decision, with the review being so quick.
But the VAR, Andre Marriner, should have been advising DOGSO red once the referee said he was sticking with the penalty.
— Dale Johnson (@DaleJohnsonESPN) February 20, 2021
Following a ludicrously brief period of consultation with a VAR screen, the Englishman stuck to his original decision to award the penalty, which Gylfi Sigurdsson duly converted to hand Everton a 2-0 lead.
If the penalty call alone wasn’t absolutely ridiculous enough as it is, the idea that Kavanagh could have dumped a further truck load of salt onto an open wound already laced with the stuff by giving Trent his marching orders extends beyond the realm of insanity.
Had the young fullback been shown red for a foul that was not only non-existent, but precipitated by the ‘offendee’ (inadvertent or not), it would have come across as a flagrant manipulation of the rules in question.
We had a few positive moments interspersed amongst the mediocrity, but, in reality, we were largely awful and deserved to take nothing from the tie.
Nonetheless, we refuse to accept that Liverpool deserved an even harsher ruling from the official for the penalty incident.