Ex-FIFA Ref: VAR gets Everton v Brentford controversy wrong, they should not intervene

Christian Norgaard should not have been sent off in the 0-0 draw between Everton and Brentford at Goodison Park on Saturday, Keith Hackett has said.

One of the biggest talking points of an otherwise uneventful game on 23 November came in the 41st minute when Norgaard was shown a red card for a high challenge on Jordan Pickford.

Chris Kavanagh did not initially see anything malicious but went straight to his pocket after seeing a replay of the incident on the VAR monitor.

Speaking exclusively to Goodison News, Hackett, a former Premier League referee and PGMOL chief, admitted that VAR was wrong to intervene in that instance and should have let Kavanagh stick with his on-field decision.

“The referee Kavanagh is in a good position to judge the incident and is satisfied that there was no foul”, he said.

“At worst, you may consider that the challenge was reckless (Yellow card) and for that offence, VAR could not intervene.

VAR wrong for Everton v Brentford controversy

“However VAR judges this challenge wrongly in my opinion.

“It does not fulfil the criteria for serious foul play and I would have much preferred Kavanagh to stick with his original call and let the play to continue and VAR to stick with his subjective original decision.”

Everton may have been lucky to see Brentford go a man down, but they nevertheless failed to take advantage of the situation at the game eventually ended in a 0-0 draw.

The Toffees started the game on the front foot as they did in their stalemate against West Ham on 9 November, but were flat in the second half.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin had another underwhelming performance in front of goal, managing to get only two of his five shots on target [FotMob]. Beto, meanwhile, caused the Bees defenders some headaches off the bench but was not clinical enough.

With games against Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City awaiting them in December, things are looking rather bleak for Sean Dyche and Co.

In other Everton news, Dwight McNeil has been likened to Chelsea star Cole Palmer after what he has done for the Toffees this season.

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