Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite claims there is “no consistency” among referees following the Toffees’ frustrating derby defeat to Liverpool on Saturday.
After dismissing Ashley Young in the 37th minute for two bookings, referee Craig Pawson failed to do the same when Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate, who had been shown an earlier yellow card, hauled down Beto.
Branthwaite said: “He’s gone right through the middle of the pitch, it’s one v one, it’s a blatant yellow.
“But he hasn’t given it, so we can’t do anything about that now. That’s the problem: there’s no consistency throughout the refereeing.”
The incident took place in the 65th minute with the scoreline still goalless. Liverpool’s numerical advantage eventually told with two Mohamed Salah goals, the first from the spot, seeing the Reds home.
“If he gets sent off, it’s back to a level playing field and probably a different game but we’re down to 10 men and against it,” added Branthwaite.
“It was disappointing in the end, I think. Up to 65 minutes, I think we defended really well.
“Obviously, going down to 10 men didn’t help us, but I thought we dug in there as a team, and the decisions went against us today.
“That’s something that we as a team look at, we gave it our best when we went down to 10 men.
“We’ve got to hold our heads high after what we showed out there.”
