Jack Grealish was visibly unhappy after Everton lost the Merseyside derby against Liverpool. During his post-match interview with TNT Sports, the Manchester City loanee expressed his unhappiness with multiple referee decisions.
The England international has maintained his superb form after moving from the Etihad to the Hill Dickinson Stadium this summer. Grealish found himself in numerous attractive positions following a hard-fought tussle with Liverpool full-back Conor Bradley.
This was demonstrated by his assist to Idrissa Gana Gueye’s consolation goal in the second quarter, when his cross reached Iliman Ndiaye at the far post, who cushioned the ball back for Gueye to blast past Alisson. His efforts were in fruitless, however, as well-worked goals from Ryan Gravenberch and Hugo Ekitike were enough to keep the league leaders out of reach.
Grealish is baffled by the referee’s performance
Grealish and David Moyes dashed towards referee Darren England as the Anfield supporters breathed a sigh of relief. Furiously confronting the referee, both the player and the manager expressed their dissatisfaction with decisions that they believed were unfair to the visitors.
Grealish revealed to TNT Sport after the match where his frustrations sprang from. He complained about the decision to hand midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall a yellow card for attempting to take a quick free kick, alleging that his team was not afforded some decisions that Liverpool were. He said:
“I’ve never seen a footballer in my life be booked for taking a quick free kick. I’m not sure where the rule came from.
“I believe the stoppage time was three minutes and one minute. Come on, I haven’t seen that in the Premier League in the last two or three years.
When asked if there were any widespread frustrations with the referee’s performance, Grealish responded: “Of course, I understand that sometimes you just want to let the game go; I absolutely understand that. But you can’t not give us something, and then, two seconds later, one of their defenders is touched in the back and goes down, and he calls a foul.”
As Dewsbury-Hall was issued a yellow card, TNT Sports announcer Ally McCoist expressed his thoughts on the odd ruling. He replied, “It’s ridiculous, I mean merely. They’ll argue it’s the rule, but how about some common sense?
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