‘Blatant cheating”- Sean Dyche and Everton management blasts officials over Liverpool decisions after triple Merseyside derby controversy

Sean Dyche slammed officiating decisions he believed went against Everton during their Merseyside derby loss to Liverpool.

The Reds won by two goals, but the game was defined by officiating decisions that the visitors claimed were all against them. Ashley Young was dismissed for the visitors before halftime after receiving two yellow cards.

Young was sent off after receiving two yellow cards in the first half while playing right defense against Luis Diaz. While both rulings appeared to be cautionable, it was surprising that Young received no final warnings after committing only two fouls during the game.

The Reds’ Ibrahima Konate, who had previously been cautioned, escaped a second yellow card with a nasty foul on the halfway line as Everton attempted to break up the pitch on a counter-attack in the second half, infuriating the visitors.

With less than twenty minutes remaining, Liverpool was awarded a penalty kick, which allowed them to break the tie. Following a VAR intervention, Michael Keane’s outstretched arm stopped Diaz’s delivery from reaching a hazardous area of the box, resulting in a penalty.

Referee Craig Pawson ruled that a penalty kick was necessary, and Mohamed Salah converted to open the score. In a gritty match at Anfield, the Egyptian superstar struck a second in injury time to seal the victory.

When asked about Konate’s dismissal, Dyche told TNT Sports after the game, “Their manager took him off the pitch right away.” The entire stadium knew it was a red card.”

“The problem is how do you judge that?” the Everton manager stated of Young’s early red card. Their player is not booked for a comparable foul, whereas Young was booked twice for the identical offense. For asking a query about it, I was handed a yellow card.

“With the Konate challenge, the entire stadium was like, ‘what is going on there?'” Their management was aware of it, as evidenced by the immediate substitution. Those are difficult judgments to make. They are major decisions, and they are perplexing.

“We had kept them to a minimum of chances before the penalty.” When we reduced the number of players to ten, we were able to end the game. Then came that huge decision (over Konate), and they realized they got away with one.”