James Tarkowski was lucky to stay on the pitch when he was only awarded a yellow card for a foul on Alexis Mac Alister during Everton’s Merseyside defeat to Liverpool on Wednesday
Jordan Pickford confirmed that James Tarkowski made a personal apology to Alexis Mac Allister after his X-rated Anfield tackle. The Everton keeper had a prime view of Tarkowski’s brutal challenge early in Wednesday night’s Merseyside derby and has spoken about the defender’s reaction to an incident that sparked widespread outrage.
At the end of the game – settled by a Diogo Jota strike early in the second half – Tarkowski approached Mac Allister and appeared to say sorry for an offence that somehow only earned him a yellow card. The Liverpool midfielder seemed to accept Tarkowski’s contribution but the flashpoint has reignited the whole VAR debate, with pundits incredulous that Paul Tierney, on VAR, failed to upgrade the yellow card shown by Sam Barrott.
And the referees’ governing body, the PGMOL, have accepted that it was a mistake not to dismiss Tarkowski.
But Pickford downplayed the incident, saying: “He’s got the ball. He’s probably gone in with a bit more impact and force. I think he has apologised to Mac Allister – he’s a tough South American, I think he’ll be alright. But it’s football. I think 20 years ago, it’s fine. But he (Tarkowski) has apologised and I think that is all he can do.”
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And Pickford believes Tarkowski and Everton were hard done by later when, in the decisive moment of the match, Luis Diaz had appeared to be offside before playing a part in the Jota match-winner.
Pickford said: “I’m not a referee and I would never want to be a referee but hopefully we will get a better explanation because Diaz is offside.
“I think if he was in Tarky’s eye-line and when you see someone behind, your decision is different, but that is for the referee to explain. We were disappointed – it looked offside – but we move on.”
Everton move on to a home clash with Arsenal on Saturday, the first of only four matches left to play at Goodison Park. And although there is little left to play for in the Premier League, Pickford knows his team has a duty to try and make it a memorable last few matches at the grand old ground.
He said: “We were a little bit off it against Liverpool but I thought our work and resilience was a credit to the lads. Our resilience as a team was good and we need to build on that. How do we improve that 10 percent? How do we create more chances? It is a good test for us now.
“I’ve been here for eight years and I know how passionate the fans are and how much they care. We were nine unbeaten and now we’ve tasted defeat against Liverpool, which is never nice for us.
“But now it is about bouncing back and making sure Goodison is rocking for the game against Arsenal.”
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