Everton’s home form continues to be a cause for concern as the Blues draw 1-1 with bottom-of-the-table Wolves.
Michael Keane had given the Toffees a first half lead, earning his third goal of the season.
However, Moyes’ side then barely threatened Jose Sa’s goal with another pedestrian performance.
Defensively, we looked disorganised and error prone. You could sense the equaliser coming, as Everton allowed Wolves to grow into the game.
At 1-1, Wolves looked the more likely to snatch it, and with seven minutes remaining, Everton were reduced to 10 men.
Indeed, Michael Keane’s aerial duel with Tolu Arokodare prompted VAR to intervene. After a lengthy wait when few in the stadium knew what was actually being reviewed, the 32-year-old was eventually dismissed for pulling his opponent’s hair.
The decision by referee Tom Kirk, based on the advice of (surprise, surprise) Chris Kavanagh on VAR has been called ‘ridiculous’ by David Moyes.
He siad: “It was not violent, it is not forceful, and it is not deliberate. All those things I have said, it should not be a red card.
“Today, this was in the game on a ball coming up. If everybody grew their hair longer, there could be a chance you are going to get your hair pulled. I thought it was a ridiculous decision.
“It can’t be violent conduct for that. In an action in the game, how would that warrant a red card? People getting pulled back in the box every five minutes, but you are letting them go? Ridiculous.”
IT’S ONE RIDICULOUS DECISION AFTER ANOTHER AGAINST THE TOFFEES
Things went from bad to worse seven minutes later when Jack Grealish was shown a second yellow for sarcastically applauding the referee.
Grealish, who gets kicked week in, week out was understandably frustrated at the continued ineptitude of Premier League officials.
Perhaps a player of his experience should’ve known better. It was always going to be a second yellow. After all, your name has got to be Virgil van Dijk or Bruno Fernandes to get away with that.
In fact, it’s a good job he never pretended to be a seagull, otherwise he’d have been in real trouble.
It’s not the first time this season Everton have found themselves on the receiving end of such nonsense.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was booked for having the temerity to take a quick free-kick. Not to mention Idrissa Gueye’s red card for slapping his own teammate.
Meanwhile, Wolves forward Hwang Hee-chan dragged his studs down Harrison Armstrong’s calf. Tom Kirk failed to notice and presumably Chris Kavanagh was momentarily away from his VAR monitor.
These decisions don’t get given against certain clubs, but there’s barely a week that goes by without feeling wronged in some way.
The benchmark for Everton being awarded a penalty is astonishingly high, as was evident against Arsenal and Burnley.
The game turned into a circus in the closing stages, but that shouldn’t distract from the abysmal display.
James Tarkowski looks finished and Dwight McNeil is disinterested, though it still wasn’t his worst performance against Wolves this season.
Wolves may have gone into the game with a ‘nothing to lose’ attitude, but we’re talking about a team who’re among the worst in Premier League history.
Scant options off the bench or not, Moyes was reactive at best as yet another opportunity passes us by.
Everton will now be without three of our four top scorers (Ndiaye, Dewsbury-Hall and Keane), as well as the player with our most assists (Grealish).
Whether it’s bias, corruption or sheer incompetence, Everton consistently seem to be on the wrong side of it.
