Frank Lampard was critical of the officials after Everton lost 3-2 to Brentford. Jarrad Branthwaite and Salomón Rondón were sent off and the manager was left upset by his side not being given a penalty in the buildup to the first dismissal, when the home side were 1-0 up.
Richarlison was having his shirt pulled by Mads Bech Sørensen in the area but Michael Oliver did not award a penalty, allowing Brentford to clear the ball up the pitch, where Branthwaite pulled down Ivan Toney to earn his first-half red.
“I thought it was a penalty,” Lampard said. “It’s a shirt pull, a clear shirt pull, it’s a foul in the box. If you’re asking Richarlison to go down then you’re asking people to fall on the floor. My players have been criticised, when they shouldn’t have been, for going down for fouls that are fouls. I think that was a penalty. I can’t complain about the red after that. If they don’t give that [the penalty] then it’s a red card.
“The reality is we’re on the bad end of a lot of decisions this season. That’s hard because I have to represent the club and the fans that come here and those small margins can affect our position. I do believe if it’s a penalty on the shirt pull means 2-0 and 11 men, and I think we all know how that game goes.”
Sørensen did give away a penalty for a pull on Richarlison before half-time but the defender was not given a second yellow card, which Lampard believes would have been deserved.
Rondón will be unavailable for Everton’s crucial final two games against Crystal Palace and Arsenal and Branthwaite for the first of those, a further blow to Lampard.
Rondón was sent off for a two-footed lunge on Rico Henry four minutes after coming off the bench. “Salomón’s is a bad tackle, I think you see in his reaction then he comes off. It’s a hot-headed reaction. It’s not the Salomón I know.”
