David Moyes points out major flaw in Premier League’s statement on Everton penalty vs Manchester United

Manchester United secured a 2-2 draw against Everton in their Premier League clash after VAR overturned a last-minute penalty decision.

Right now, Manchester United are performing at the level of a relegation-threatened side—there’s no escaping that fact.

Everton dominated Ruben Amorim’s team in the first half, with Beto scoring after 20 minutes before Abdoulaye Doucouré added another goal. United’s defensive display looked more suited to the Championship—or worse.

Amorim’s side showed little improvement after the break, but a moment of brilliance from a Bruno Fernandes free-kick pulled one back and injected some energy into United.

Manuel Ugarte then struck a well-taken half-volley to level the score, with substitutes Alejandro Garnacho and Chido Obi making a noticeable impact.

Late in the game, Everton were initially awarded a penalty after former Red Ashley Young went down in the box following what appeared to be a foul from Harry Maguire.

However, after a VAR review, Andy Madley was advised to conduct an on-field review, ultimately overturning his original decision and sparing United from defeat.

Moyes points out flaw in Premier League statement on Everton penalty

Following the game, the Premier League’s match centre released a statement on the incident, claiming that there had been “no foul committed” by Maguire.

“VAR checked the referee’s call of penalty to Everton for a challenge by Maguire on Young and deemed that no foul had been committed and recommended an on-field review,” the Premier League’s Match Centre wrote on X.

“The referee overturned the original decision and play restarted with a drop ball.”

However, in his post-match press conference, David Moyes highlighted what he would believe to be a major flaw in that explanation.

The Everton boss was firstly bemused to how it can be overturned for being a “clear and obvious error” – but he was not focused on Maguire, but rather Matthijs de Ligt.

Maguire was at the centre of the controversy in the Premier League’s statement, but Moyes claims that it is De Ligt who grabbed Young’s shirt, which is something they didn’t seem to consider.

“I can’t understand why the referee on field makes a decision… if it was absolutely clear and obvious that he should go to the screen, well, I didn’t see that… he pulled his jersey,” Moyes said.

“So, you know, I just thought the referee made the correct decision at the time and and he should have stuck with it.”

The Everton boss also added: “It looked to me like the shirt pull (by De Ligt) needed to be given. You shouldn’t be getting away with pulling jerseys.”

Moyes makes a fair point about Premier League

Whether or not you believe the decision was right or wrong, Moyes makes a fair point and United would certainly feel unfortunate if it had gone the other way.

The bigger issue at play is the communication from the Premier League on their VAR decision.

The Premier League match centre was introduced to give supporters a better understanding of why decisions are made and/or changed, but instead it seems to be used as an opportunity to protect the referees at every turn.

Read More: Rio Ferdinand lauds two Manchester United players who ‘changed the game’ vs Everton

People make mistakes – Manchester United fans are well aware of that after watching their team week-in, week-out, but there is rarely any admission of those mistakes by the officials in this league.

Fortunately for United, this time, it was to their aid.

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