Everton salvaged a point at St. James’ Park last night, and Newcastle United supporters undoubtedly felt like they had lost two games.
With no danger at all, the Magpies should have won the match long before substitute Paul Dummett unleashed his inner John Cena and brought down Ashley Young in the box.
Howe said things about the penalty that were illogical:
In an interview with TNT Sport following the match, Howe discussed the disallowed goal and the penalty call as two instances in which VAR intervened in close calls. This raised the question of whether he felt unfairly treated by the penalty call, subtly implying that Everton was able to draw at St. James Park thanks to the VAR.
“I believe that both players are fighting, but sadly for us, Paul’s arm was raised quite a bit around Ashley Young. I believe this was the deciding factor for VAR. However, it’s one of those situations where things could have gone either way.
Until Dummett put Young in a headlock and pulled the frail old man to the ground, it was in fact two players grappling.
The game ought to have been decided for Newcastle before the penalty incident:
I don’t mind wearing blinkers or using black-and-white glasses to see the world, but there are instances when you just have to hold your hands up. This was one of those occasions. There was no getting around the fact that it was a penalty.
In the big picture, it shouldn’t have mattered because Newcastle should have been out of sight by then. However, due to excellent goalkeeping by Jordan Pickford and some poor choices made by some of our forwards in the final third, we were unable to score the second goal that would have ended the game.
It was ultimately a substitution game. Eddie Howe was forced into a substitution that worsened our team and ultimately cost us the victory, while Sean Dyche made three substitutions that improved his team.
