Post Match Reaction - Everton v Coventry City

City went down 3-1 in their first visit to the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Despite going 1 up through Gboho's first goal for City, some poor defending and potentially worse VAR decisions saw City come away with nothing.

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As predicted in the Match Preview, SFL opted to change his line-up after the resounding victory against Sunderland. One interesting change was Tchouna returning to the bench after his alleged teddy-throwing tantrum.

I always seem to write that City started brightly before the opposition came back into it, and that’s what happened again. The first chance fell to Everton when they broke and Rushy saved from Mykolenko. On 36 minutes, in what’s becoming a productive route for City, Rushy pumped a long ball down the right. Rudy played in Tats, who swivelled, but Pickford saved his shot.

The first VAR controversy came when Tarkowski pulled Yirenkyi’s hair in the box as he jumped for a header. VAR cleared it and play carried on.

City had the best of the first half, especially the last 20 minutes, but the game was level at half-time.

More VAR controversy followed when Awoniyi was played in on goal and got in front of Mykolenko, who appeared to kick the back of Awoniyi’s leg. VAR deemed that the contact was outside the box and play continued.

City went ahead on 52 minutes. Rudy slipped the ball into Gboho, who played a one-two with Tats via a couple of deflections. Gboho still had three players around him but somehow flicked the ball past an outstretched Pickford with the outside of his foot.

The lead didn’t last long, though, and it was downhill from there. Tats should have cleared the ball from the area, but he made poor contact and it dribbled out of the box. The ball eventually came back in, went over Pinnock and Barry headed it in despite Rushy getting a hand to it.

Five minutes later, Everton were ahead. The ball came in from Everton’s left after George had turned MVE inside out, and JDS, the shortest player on the pitch, was left with two men at the back post. Barry didn’t make clean contact. The ball went downwards, appeared to touch his hand and somehow bobbled into the goal. VAR had a check and allowed the goal to stand.

Things got even worse for City when Barry’s pass split the defence in two. Dogpoo-Hall of all people, who’d been roundly booed by the SBA, ran onto the ball and smashed it past Rushworth at the near post.

SFL made four changes with four minutes to go. It was a futile exercise, really, and the game finished 3–1.

City played well for much of the game but couldn’t cope with Everton once they equalised. Mfuni made some good breaks from defence. Yirenkyi was busy as ever and Gboho capped an excellent performance with his goal.

However, the game was all about the three decisions that didn’t go City’s way.

On the Awoniyi foul, there’s no doubt he was caught, but was it on the line or outside the box? VAR deemed it was outside. The Sky pundits seemed to think it was on the line and should therefore have been a penalty.

I’m never one to criticise referees, but the hair pull on Yirenkyi is an obvious penalty for me. The rules on hair-pulling have changed this season. A red card requires “excessive force and/or brutality”. It’s still a foul, though, and therefore a penalty.

The third decision, whether the ball hit Barry’s hand on the way down, is a tough one. Can it be conclusively proved that it did? I’m not sure, but it certainly looked that way in the replays. What is a nonsense is the VAR referee saying, “Okay, that's his side, that's definitely not hand. Confirming on-field decision of goal.” I’ve no idea what TV he was watching, but that is nonsense.

Another international break now before Palace at home. Let’s hope some results go our way this weekend.

Highlights

Sky Sports - Break down of each VAR decision

Slightly biased Everton Highlights: