Excellent ref Attwell got the big calls right
1. GORDON GAINING REPUTATION FOR DIVING
Unfortunately, everton’s anthony Gordon is in danger of picking up a reputation for trying to con referees — and that won’t help him in his career. He tried to fool Stuart attwell into thinking naby Keita had fouled him in the box when he hadn’t. It was an obvious dive and, with Var, players should know they cannot get away with penalty-box antics any more. Someone ought to remind the youngster of that. In the second half, Gordon went down again when Joel Matip challenged him. everton screamed for a penalty, but attwell got this one right too. there wasn’t enough for a spot-kick and playing on was the correct call.
2. REDS HAD ENOUGH OF ‘INJURED’ RICHARLISON
Richarlison had already frustrated liverpool’s players by going down claiming he was injured. So when it happened again shortly before half-time, the hosts weren’t in the mood for kicking the ball out. liverpool played on — as was their right because it wasn’t a head injury — and everton weren’t happy. abdoulaye Doucoure ended up fouling fabinho to force attwell into pausing play. Doucoure rightly received a yellow card for that, but it instigated a skirmish between both sets of players and that is when attwell will have known he was refereeing a proper Merseyside derby. richarlison later kicked out at Jordan Henderson in frustration and received a yellow card. It was the right decision as nothing more was needed.
3. RED FOR MANE? NOT FOR ME
It was during that skirmish that Sadio Mane was caught on camera pushing allan in the face. the liverpool winger then poked his finger into the face of Mason Holgate, who ran to attwell to lodge a complaint. Mane is a fool for even running the risk in a match that liverpool had to win, but neither incident was violent. they were petulant acts and deserved the yellow card he received for being the aggressor. overall, attwell can be proud of how he handled a game with so much riding on it. He didn’t hinder the spectacle and did his job.