Liverpool 2-0 Everton: Sean Dyche fumes at decision not to send Ibrahima Konate off in Merseyside derby defeat

Everton manager Sean Dyche was furious as Ibrahima Konate avoided a second yellow card as Liverpool won the Merseyside derby 2-0; Konate escaped a sending off with the scores at 0-0, after Ashley Young had been sent off for the Toffees; Mohamed Salah scored two late goals to win the game

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Ibrahima Konate off in Merseyside derby defeat />

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Everton manager Sean Dyche fumed at the decision not to send Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate off in the Toffees’ Merseyside derby defeat at Anfield, describing it as an “impossibility of football”.

The visitors were left stunned when Konate, who was booked early in the second half, was not shown a second yellow card by referee Craig Pawson when he fouled Beto on the counter-attack with the scores at 0-0.

The decision not to send Konate off was particularly pertinent given Everton defender Ashley Young was dismissed for two first-half bookings earlier in the game.

Liverpool 2-0 Everton – report & highlights
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After Konate escaped a red card of his own, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp replaced the French defender with Joel Matip, while Dyche was booked minutes later for continuing his protests to the officials.

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Sky Sports’ Vinny O’Connor and Adam Bate discuss Liverpool’s victory over Everton in the Merseyside derby and examine whether Ibrahima Konate should have been sent off.

“How they didn’t have [a red card] is an impossibility of football,” Dyche said to beIN Sport after the game. “It’s a shame that we’re going to end up talking about the officials, it’s [the case] in most interviews I do.

“I don’t think it’s rocket science today. The fact their manager took off their centre-back straight away afterwards was a clear sign of what he thought. Everybody in the stadium and at home thought the same thing. But the people who count didn’t think that.

“It was a bizarre game for officiating the game, it was very bizarre.”

Image: Referee Craig Pawson allowed Konate to stay on the pitch despite fouling Beto on the break when on a booking

Dyche was booked following the Konate decision, and he added in his post-match press conference: “I have no clue. I have asked the referee and he said he didn’t feel it was a bookable offence and he felt that straight away. I don’t know what is then.

“I think people who were here today would be stunned it was not a second yellow. Their manager took him off as quick as he could, he’s realised. I don’t want to talk about referees. I can’t remember the last time I spoke this openly about referees and decisions but that one is incredible to me.

“And I got a yellow card. I don’t even know why I got a yellow card. It was a near impossibility. For literally gesticulating like everyone in the stadium was probably. That’s ridiculous.

“I would get in trouble so I’m not going to get too involved in it, I think I’m trying to be fair. How that’s not a second yellow is nearly impossible I think in the modern game.

“I have seen the footage and within a second he is saying, ‘No chance.’ He did not even give himself thinking time. If he gives himself 10 seconds, I bet he gives a yellow. Especially in the modern game. It is just bizarre to me.

Image: Everton's Ashley Young was sent off by Pawson earlier in the game

“I don’t agree with the VAR rule on this. I think that is where VAR should step in. Just go, ‘Yellow, yellow, yellow.’ Because that is what VAR should be there to do, to correct things like that today.

“I end up getting in trouble. I shouldn’t be because I should be able to say if the referee has had an off day. I am just saying what everyone else thinks.”

While watching the incident on Soccer Saturday, former Premier League referee Mike Dean said: “I think it’s a second yellow, for consistency. You’ve sent off a player for two fouls in the first half. He’s done two in 10 minutes.”

Everton went on to lose the game with Mohamed Salah scoring from the spot on 74 minutes after Michael Keane’s handball, before the Egyptian winger added a second in stoppage time on the counter attack.

Dyche said he had no complaints about the awarding of the penalty from a laws of the game point of view – but said he preferred the previous version of the handball rule.

“The sending off happens. I think the first one’s touch and go, the second yellow is a yellow. That’s the way it goes.

Image: Young after being sent off for Everton vs Liverpool

“The penalty, I don’t like the modern rule but I am aware of it. I don’t think it is a deliberate act but they’re the rules now, it’s going to get given.

“I must say I’m getting bored of all this running over to the TV. We all know what’s going to happen. They’re talking about speeding the game up, why not just get on with it? There is somebody in an office with 47 views. If it’s a penalty, it’s a penalty.

“They get a goal from a penalty: they are tough ones now, it’s a loose arm. I preferred the rule how it was when it had to be a deliberate act of handball, that’s not a deliberate act. But they’ve all changed it and we know the rule is.

“But the fact is at 0-0, how they have got 11 on the pitch is just incredible.”

Klopp: You learn to get over these decisions

Image: Mohamed Salah scored twice for Liverpool vs Everton

Dyche called for VAR to be used for instances such as Konate’s that could lead to a sending off but does not believe Liverpool were given the rub of the green as a result of the high-profile officiating errors in their recent loss to Tottenham.

“I doubt it, I think referees just referee whatever’s going on in front of them,” he said. “I just think it was a bad decision. I think there were a lot of bad decisions, both ways. But that’s a vital decision in a game like this.”

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp immediately substituted Konate and had sympathy with Dyche, although he insisted he did not see the incident clearly.

Image: Young was on a booking when he challenged Luis Diaz

“I didn’t see it back, and I was not sure I saw it 100 per cent, I think I was somewhere else in that moment, but then when he’s going down, and Ibou I knew had a yellow card, I knew that could be tricky,” said the Reds boss.

“He didn’t get the second yellow then I thought we don’t give it a chance and take him off. I can imagine the frustration of Everton and Sean, absolutely.”

Nevertheless, Klopp believed his side fully merited the three points and praised Salah, who took his goal tally for the season to eight.

Image: Mohamed Salah celebrates scoring

“What I love most about Mo is that Mo Salah played for us an incredible amount of fantastic games,” said the Reds boss.

“Today it was not his best game but being that clinical is probably his biggest quality and I love that, because you need somebody who brings the ball over the line.

“I couldn’t respect that fact more. That’s absolutely outstanding. The numbers are crazy. He will never stop, that is his nature and that’s really cool for us.”