The referee of the Premier League PGMOL has admitted that Everton captain James Tarkowski deserved a red card for his challenge for Liverpools Alexis Mac Allister during the Merseyside derby.
The English central defender loosened the ball in the 11th minute of the Premier League clash on the edge of Everton’s box, but followed Mac Allister’s calf. Referee Sam Barlott was a handful of meters away and immediately flashed a yellow card.
Var Paul Terney, who had a long -term feud with the former Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp, agreed to the decision before the game. As an official match center of the Premier League X The report said during the game: “The call of the referee’s yellow card for a ruthless foul by Tarkowski was checked by the VAR, whereby the contact after the Follow had played by Tarkowski when the ball was considered ruthless.”
Almost every viewer from both sides of the Merseyside gap admitted that Tarkowski was lucky enough to avoid a red card. Liverpool’s Arne Slot rejected the decision as “so obviously” that he didn’t even have to comment on, while his Everton counterpart David Moyes admitted: “We could have been lucky that we couldn’t get red.”
PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officers Limited) agreed with this view. In a message that was delivered to a number of news agencies and reported for the first time by ESPN On Thursday morning, the referee body revealed that Tarkowski’s challenge “fulfilled the threshold for serious fouls” instead of simply being “ruthless”, as initially thought.
Law 12 in the official FA manual defines a “ruthless act” as “if a player acts and must be warned for an opponent with disregard for the danger or consequences”. This crime only earns a yellow card.
“Serious foul”, which guarantees a straight red red, is defined as “a duel or a challenge that endangers the security of an opponent or uses excessive violence or brutality”.
It remains to be seen whether Tarkowski will be prohibited retrospectively.