Petulant reaction to the gamesmanship that happens in professional sport. Of course he was wound up and baited, he’s been our talisman and caused havoc against our opposition. Smith comes out of it with no credit, but he did his job in getting into Richarlison’s mental fragility, hate saying it but he did a number and he fell for it. It’s a red all day long in today’s game.
Can’t defend it, he let us down but he’ll learn that he’s a name now, and will get particular attention from opposing mangers in how they set up to stop this years Everton. It is what is, move on. To be honest, I’ve wanted us to be more sly (professional?) in the dark arts for years. We rarely complain about poor decisions on the pitch that go against us, look at the shambles at Wolves when the ball is moved into a different postcode, our captains shoelace usually needs attention when there is a ruckus on the pitch and we seem to get more dubious decisions that go against us as a result. But, for this one, he got drawn into something and got what he got. No need to over analyse.