Ref Watch: Dermot Gallagher gives verdict on the controversial penalty appeal for handball by Rodri vs Everton | Football News

Dermot Gallagher dissects the big flashpoints from the weekend’s action, including the Rodri handball incident at Goodison Park.

Everton 0-1 Man City

INCIDENT: Everton’s appeals for a penalty are waved away when Rodri, under little pressure inside the penalty box, misjudged the bouncing ball and it ricocheted off his upper arm. The on-field decision not to award the penalty stood with perhaps no clear and obvious evidence it had struck Rodri’s uncovered arm rather than his shirt.

Everton have subsequently made an official complaint to the Premier League about recent decisions made by officials.

Sky Sports News understands the club are ‘absolutely incandescent’ at some of the refereeing decisions made in recent games and they are demanding at the very least an apology for Frank Lampard and his team.

DERMOT’S VERDICT: It is a penalty, no doubt. I think the VAR inspected it for too long. Paul Tierney is looking through players, he can’t see the incident and Rodri is covering him. I think this should have been a VAR decision.

There are a couple of angles that may have affected the decision.

I think the VAR focused on the first angle first (left above) and there was an element of doubt despite the second angle (right above) clearly showing it’s handball. He got seduced by the first angle going into the second angle. We can’t change the past. Most people will agree it’s a penalty. I know that’s not going to help Everton but we’ve got to learn that if one angle is inconclusive focus on the angle that is conclusive. That’s the message.

Stephen Warnock: This has got nothing to do with VAR. This is about the person in control of VAR. It’s got to be better. It’s the same duo [Paul Tierney and Chris Kavanagh] who were involved with the Harry Kane tackle on Andy Robertson and the wrong decision was made then too. If he’s that in doubt about the decision then he should have asked the referee to go to the screen and come to a decision together. Two heads are better than one.

Every single person I’ve spoken to has said it’s a penalty. It’s the clearest decision we’ve had go to VAR. It’s phenomenal. Incredible. One of the reasons VAR was introduced was due to the costs at stage of relegation. This decision could cost Everton dearly.

Carabao Cup final: Chelsea 0-0 Liverpool (10-11 on pens)

INCIDENT: Liverpool thought they had taken the lead as a smart free-kick routine led to Sadio Mane heading across for Joel Matip to convert from a couple of yards out, but after a lengthy VAR check it was ruled out. Virgil van Dijk the man responsible, as he was deemed to be impeding Reece James in the build-up.

DERMOT’S VERDICT: This is the third one this season. We had one with Edinson Cavani and one with Ben Mee. Here, Van Dijk starts in an offside position and impedes James. So that means rather offside being a factor, the referee can see he’s interfered with an opponent when looking at the screen. It’s the right call. James gets impeded.

INCIDENT: Naby Keita goes into a 50-50 challenge with Trevor Chalobah and although feet of both players are high, Chalobah gets caught in the groin area by Keita. No card is shown.

DERMOT’S VERDICT: It was a brilliant game to watch as much so because Stuart Attwell was fantastic. I think he dealt with the Keita challenge on Chalobah really well. If you look, both players go in high. Perhaps that was one incident he would have slightly regretted as he could have yellow carded Keita. I don’t think it’s a malicious challenge and both players were as high as each other.

Brighton 0-2 Aston Villa

INCIDENT: During his goal celebration, Matty Cash lifted his Villa shirt and unveiled a T-shirt, with the message “stay strong bro” to his Poland team-mate Tomasz Kedziora, who is still in Ukraine with his family. Referee John Brooks responded by booking Cash.

DERMOT’S VERDICT: The referees dislike the rule it because it’s a technical offence and technical offences don’t sit well with referees but they have to enforce them. This one was particular difficult as the message was if someone shows an act of solidarity towards Ukraine the referees would show empathy but with this one, Cash took his shirt off and made a big thing of it. So the referee was put in a difficult decision in that he considered the message being displayed but the player took his shirt off, which was a step too far.