Howard Webb makes VAR admission to Michael Owen after Everton controversy v Nottingham Forest
Howard Webb has admitted he would have liked to have seen Anthony Taylor sent to the monitor after a controversial incident in the clash between Everton and Nottingham Forest.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side felt they should have been awarded three penalties in their 2-0 defeat at Goodison Park earlier in April, but all three decisions went the Toffees away much to Forest’s frustration.
While Taylor insists the first two calls didn’t warrant a spot-kick, he has now admitted that VAR Stuart Atwell should have recommended an on-field review for Ashley Young’s tackle on Callum Hudson-Odoi, suggesting it would have been overturned.
Speaking on Match Officials Mic’d Up (30 April) Webb told Michael Owen: “I understand why, we would have preferred an intervention in this situation. The referee waves away the penalty appeal and the VAR asks himself the question was the non-award clearly and obviously wrong?
“You hear him describe two players tussling for the ball, he doesn’t see a clear action by Young that he deems worthy of intervention, one that reaches the threshold of being very clear.
“We would have preferred an intervention for the referee for the referee to go to the screen to make a judgement for himself in this situation and it probably would have come out with a different outcome if that would have happened.”
Will Nottingham Forest be punished for controversy v Everton at Goodison Park?
Everton supporters won’t be shocked to hear Webb suggest the officials may have got one of the three penalty calls wrong as almost all football supporters were unanimous in their belief Young got away with a few reckless challenges.
While Forest have been slammed by fans and pundits alike for their reaction to the mistake and arguably rightly so, their frustration is understandable when you have the head of officiating admit it should have been handled differently.Whether or not further action will be taken against the club, its players and manager for their comments following the full-time whistle at Goodison remains to be seen, but this Webb admission will only add fuel to the fire.
From an Everton perspective, the win helped them secure Premier League safety for another year so they won’t have too many complaints. Hopefully, this can put an end to all the farcical arguing.
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