Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has revealed his reaction to Everton being denied a late penalty against Manchester United on Saturday.
Manchester United travelled to Goodison Park on the weekend and Ruben Amorim’s men came from behind to snatch an important Premier League point.
Beto opened the scoring for Everton inside 20 minutes before Abdoulaye Doucoure doubled the Toffees’ lead against United in the first half at Goodison Park.
United fought back in the second half against Everton and climbed back into the contest in the 72nd minute after Bruno Fernandes converted a free-kick.
Manuel Ugarte’s stunning strike eight minutes after Bruno Fernandes’ free-kick ensured that United walked away with a 2-2 draw against David Moyes’ men.
However, Everton almost came close to snatching all three points late into second-half stoppage time after a controversial initial penalty decision was awarded.
Gallagher on Everton penalty vs Man Utd
Referee Andy Madley pointed to the spot after Everton player Ashley Young went down from a challenge by Manchester United defender Harry Maguire in injury time.
However, VAR intervened and called for Andy Madley to head to the screen and review his decision, with the referee ultimately walking back on his call.
During the incident between Ashley Young and Harry Maguire, Matthijs de Ligt appeared to pull the former United player’s shirt before he tumbled onto the pitch.
Dermot Gallagher has now made the bold claim that the “best solution” would have been to keep Madley’s decision without VAR’s involvement in the penalty call.
Speaking on Sky Sports’ Ref Watch, the ex-referee claimed that a closer look should have been taken on Matthijs de Ligt’s challenge on Young instead.
“For me, the best solution is [to] stick with the referee and VAR not to get involved,” he said.
“Once VAR got involved it raised a number of issues that didn’t really need raising.
“I think the referee gave the penalty against Maguire. I don’t think Maguire has fouled him but De Ligt has got hold of his shirt for long enough to give the penalty.
“The ref has said to VAR he’s given a penalty because he thinks Maguire has pulled his shirt. The VAR has looked and said no.
“If he sees an offence, he thinks is a penalty he can give a penalty. Most penalties given that the ref doesn’t see on the field are what a VAR spots that the ref doesn’t. Surely this falls into the same bracket.
“They got so bogged down in looking at the Maguire one, De Ligt got washed away.”
Gallagher on camera angle and De Ligt
Gallagher believes that Andy Madley missed the “best angle” for making a better call, which came from the camera position from the viewpoint of Andre Onana.
He added that Madley would not have overturned his own decision had he seen the other angle where Matthijs de Ligt grabbed onto Ashley Young’s shirt.
“The best angle is from the goalkeeper’s view, through the net, and you see De Ligt pulling him,” Gallagher explained.
“What they showed him was that [side-on] angle over and over again.
“If the ref had been shown the through-the-net angle, he’d have stuck with his decision.”
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