David Moyes and Jack Grealish criticised referee Darren England after Everton's 2-1 loss at Liverpool on Saturday. The Toffees were left frustrated by the amount of stoppage time and several decisions during the Premier League encounter at Anfield.
Ryan Gravenberch and Hugo Ekitiké put Liverpool ahead, but Idrissa Gueye pulled one back for Everton. Despite applying pressure late on, Everton could not find an equaliser. Grealish, who was fouled repeatedly, was booked by England after full time for complaining. 'I've never seen a player get booked for taking a quick free-kick,' he told TNT Sports. 'Even the stoppage time, three minutes and one minute – I’ve never seen that in the Premier League in the last two or three years.'
Moyes echoed his player's sentiments: 'Three minutes was very strange. Every quick free-kick had to be stopped and brought back for the whistle and then we get a booking for it. I find it quite unbelievable.' The Everton boss also pointed to inconsistencies in the referee's approach, suggesting the Anfield crowd influenced decisions.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot praised his side's resilience after holding on for a fifth straight league win. 'We needed mentality in a different fashion,' he said. 'We knew how difficult this game would be, especially playing our third match in less than seven days. We ran out of energy but not out of mentality.'
