Everton boss Frank Lampard believes that Richarlison should have been awarded a penalty before Jarrad Braithwaite was sent off in the 18th minute. Just before the sending-off, Richarlison appealed for a penalty after he had his shirt pulled by Kristoffer Ajer. The referee played on with the ball pumped forward and Toney getting in behind the defense. After Toney was goal side, Braithwaite clipped his heels leaving the referee with an easy decision.
“The red card changes the game completely. It was as critical as can be because we had complete control. [There was a] possible penalty in the build-up to that,” Frank Lampard said about Richarlison. “It was a clear pull on Richarlison’s shirt. People want to criticize my players whenever they go down and say they go down too easily. You wonder whether players should go down because that’s a penalty. Then it goes down the other end and it’s a mistake by Jarrad to let him run behind – you’ve got to run in early, drop off and deal with it easily and we didn’t.”
“When you see that shirt pull [on Richarlison], that’s a foul anywhere on the pitch. This ‘clear and obvious’ phrase, I don’t know if it still counts but I think it’s nonsense. The decision is either right or wrong. And if a referee can’t see it clearly and they get the benefit of someone else… it’s right or wrong. Is a shirt pull afoul? Yes. Is it in the box? Yes. It’s a penalty,” he added. “The reality is we’re on the wrong end of a lot of bad decisions this season. That’s hard. I have to represent the club, represent the fans that come here, and those small margins can affect our position and I do believe that penalty on the shirt pull means maybe 2-0 and 11 men and I think we all know how that game goes.”
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