Chaos took over at the Goodison Park pitch following a late equaliser from Everton as Liverpool had to settle for a draw
Former referee Keith Hackett has issued a new verdict after Michael Oliver came under fire during the Merseyside derby draw between Everton and Liverpool. Toffees captain James Tarkowski scored a late 98-minute equaliser in dramatic fashion to ensure the hosts avoided defeat against their local rivals.
Liverpool, on the other hand, were aggrieved by the late draw despite still sitting comfortably at the top of the Premier League table and being seven points clear of Arsenal. Chaos began on the pitch after midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure raced over to celebrate in front of the away fans before being confronted by Curtis Jones.
A number of players then went over, and it resulted in Jones and Doucoure being shown red cards along with Liverpool boss Arne Slot and assistant Sipke Hulshoff. Oliver came under criticism for his performance at Goodison Park and Hackett pointed out other ‘mistakes’ from the referee in the game.
“There were other mistakes from Oliver in the game,” the former PGMOL boss wrote in his Telegraph column. “For Everton’s opening goal, it came from a quickly taken free-kick. The problem was it was not a foul in first place. Looking at replays it was clear there was no foul and he made a mistake that resulted in the goal.
“Andrew Robertson can also feel aggrieved that he received a yellow card for kicking the ball away which frankly he should have got away with. In a game of that nature, I would not see that as a booking. You just have to be more tolerant in these situations. The Merseyside derby is always a challenging game for the match officials.
“When the temperature rose, Oliver failed to raise his performance. I also felt that there were occasions when he needed to impose his authority through the spoken word. A quiet word then a public rebuke before bookings. He decided to show yellow cards rather than his authority. One other aspect to consider: Oliver is stagnating and I think one of the problems is the quality of coaches within the PGMOL.
“That’s where the shortfall is. Are the coaches good enough to deliver at the elite level? It demands more in terms of injecting into them the dynamic that says every game is important and we expect improving performances. I’ve spoken to colleagues about this and Oliver can deliver much better than he has been recently.”
