Alan Shearer sends warning Message on ‘surprise’ VAR decision that ‘forced’ Everton penalty to be overturned vs Man United

Alan Shearer sends warning Message on ‘surprise’ VAR decision that ‘forced’ Everton penalty to be overturned vs Man United

Alan Shearer has criticised VAR and referee Andy Madley after Everton were not awarded a last-ditch penalty against Manchester United which could’ve given the Toffees the win.

Ashley Young had his shirt pulled in the box by not one but two Man Utd players, Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire, and a penalty was initially given by Madley, with the scores 2-2 heading into the final moments.

After a lengthy wait – the second big stoppage in the match in the game after Beto’s opener was looked at for offside – Madley was instructed to go to the monitor and ultimately overturned his decision, much to the frustration of Everton supporters.

Speaking on Match of the Day, Shearer highlighted the fact that Madley was not shown a good enough angle, so he could see clearly that Young’s shirt had been pulled. This then ‘forced’ Madley into a more difficult decision than should’ve been necessary.

“There’s two clear pulls on his shirt here from de Ligt. There really is. It’s clear to see it. The referee gives the penalty there, and now he’s sent over to the screen,” Shearer said.

“But what is mind-boggling for me is they don’t show him the correct angles! They show him that angle there, that angle there, and straight away he’s off.

“That would be more confusing for me and I agree with David Moyes [comments below], it’s as if they’re trying to force the referee into a decision and for me, they get that wrong. It’s not a clear and obvious error.”

David Moyes: ‘He definitely pulls the jersey’
As is now typical, the Premier League released a statement on X to justify VAR’s decision. But incredibly, they failed to mention the fact that De Ligt was also involved with the incident, not only Maguire, bringing into question whether the alleged foul from the Dutchman was looked at.

“VAR checked the referee’s call of penalty to Everton for a challenge by Maguire on Young and deemed that no foul had been committed and recommended an on-field review,” they posted.

“The referee overturned the original decision and play restarted with a drop ball.

Everton manager David Moyes, meanwhile, highlighted the fact that VAR is only supposed to intervene when a ‘clear and obvious error’ has been committed – something that seems to have been forgotten in this case.

“I don’t think the referee should have been called to VAR, I really don’t. Why would VAR intervene in that?

“I’ve got no idea. Unless they really thought it was bad, no, he definitely pulls the jersey and Ash goes down. If it was the other way around, I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was given. So, then that’s me being pretty neutral in that decision. But we didn’t get it, and that was it.”