MARTINEZ ON THE WARPATH
Everton boss wants answers over ref gaffes
ROBERTO Martinez wants a meeting with referees’ chief Mike Riley in an attempt to find out why several high- profile calls have gone against Everton.
The manager is furious about the incident that led to Manchester City’s second goal in the Capital One Cup semi-final on Wednesday, when Raheem Sterling ran the ball out of play before crossing to Kevin De Bruyne.
Martin Atkinson allowing the goal to stand incensed Everton and prompted Phil Jagielka to brand the official ‘arrogant’ after he refused to listen to their complaints. Jagielka claims Atkinson told him sarcastically that Everton’s defending was ‘brilliant’.
Martinez said on Wednesday he was ‘ heartbroken’ that such a decision had denied Everton the opportunity to go to Wembley and he will look to get a meeting with Riley, the head of Professional Game Match Officials Limited, to express his frustration.
Everton conceded a 98th-minute goal at Chelsea on January 16 which John Terry scored from an offside position. They also had an 89th-minute penalty awarded against them when Stoke visited Goodison Park on December 28, and there was a handball missed before Swansea scored a winning goal at Goodison last Sunday.
The sequence of events has left Martinez and his players bemused and Jagielka was enraged by the way Atkinson dealt with matters after De Bruyne made the tie 3-3 on aggregate on Wednesday to give City momentum.
‘It is really hard,’ Jagielka said. ‘You know your luck is obviously not in when the deflection goes in for the first goal and then as the game heats up and they are piling on pressure, some decisions are made that still bemuse me now.
‘Unfortunately the ball was out of play (in the build-up to De Bruyne’s goal). I’m pretty speechless. I am not saying it is the best we have played but we certainly didn’t get anything for what we put in there. You keep going, it was still a great cutback (from Sterling) and finish (from De Bruyne).
‘But the replays show it is not just an inch or so out. You expect the officials that are supposed to be of a high standard to spot that but it obviously wasn’t one of those nights.
‘I tried to (speak to Atkinson). He just told me our defending was brilliant. It is difficult when things start going the wrong way and they become a little bit arrogant — unfortunately that’s the way it goes.’
There was another incident that left Jagielka perplexed. In the build-up to the attack from which City scored the second goal, Atkinson awarded a foul throw to City when Everton defender John Stones had not even thrown the ball in by the halfway line.
‘Obviously he saw what he saw — or didn’t see what he didn’t see — but the one that baffles me is the throw-in given the other way,’ said Jagielka. ‘He told me that was a foul throw. I don’t understand how it can be a foul if you’ve not thrown the ball.
‘ This has contributed to us losing but it is not the be-all and end-all. But as far as luck goes, we are massively frustrated.’