‘ Everton v Palace: Sky Sports pundit reacts to controversy
Sky Sports pundit reacts to controversy in first half of Everton v Crystal Palace
David Phillips has reacted to the decision that saw Jarrad Branthwaite given a penalty against him in the Everton v Crystal Palace game.
The Sky Sports pundit, speaking on the Premier League world feed (11/11, 15:07), believed that it was soft but enough for the referee to rule in the hosts’ favour.
Having won the penalty, Eberechi Eze then stepped up to score and make it 1-1.
Phillips said, “The way he’s [Eze] able to manipulate that ball. Is there much on Eze? doesn’t look an awful amount. You can just see a little there, Branthwaite on the foot of Eze.”
Penalty unfortunately
The Everton players may have felt the decision was controversial, but it was well looked at and the referee made the right call in real time.
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This is the problem with this side – they start the game strongly and instead of seizing the advantage, they capitulate and give away their lead.
Scoring in the first 52 minutes would’ve been as perfect a start as any for Sean Dyche but he certainly would’ve been fuming by the response his side showed after taking the lead.
Whether or not it’s a mentality issue, only the players can answer as this was not the first time that it happened with them.
Branthwaite has been solid all season and this was an extremely needless thing that he did, jeopardising his teammates.
He’ll have better games and hopefully learn from this mistake while Dyche undoubtedly will have given him a piece of his mind.
