Everton fans have been angered at footage of West Ham’s Aaron Cresswell booting Richarlison who had already fell to ground in Sunday’s game.
A video has emerged of a kick-out on the Brazilian late on in injury time, and it’s since caused debate whether the Hammers player should have had a second yellow.
David Moyes’ West Ham put more misery on Frank Lampard’s Everton on Sunday at the London Stadium, with the Toffees now dangerously close to the Premier League’s bottom three and their run-in doesn’t look to be on their side either.
Cresswell, also a Liverpool supporter, had earlier put the hosts ahead with a delightful free-kick past Jordan Pickford and as David Moyes’ side were attempting to see the game out and hold on to their lead in injury time, the scouser put a boot into Richarlison as the forward attempted to grab the ball after being floored by a tackle.
An Everton supporter’s Twitter account uploaded a clip of the incident questioning: “HOW IS THIS NOT A RED???”
HOW IS THIS NOT A RED??? pic.twitter.com/bCAHQbOSgC
— EvertonHub (@evertonhub) April 3, 2022
One Liverpool supporter took to the popular social media platform to reply: “Aaron Cresswell has lived every Liverpool fans dream today. Scored against Everton and kicked Richarlison in the ribs 🤣.”
The West Ham No3 was shown a yellow card by referee Michael Oliver and the incident was quickly checked by the VAR Andy Madley – but he decided to stick with the onfield decision and was happy for Cresswell to stay on the pitch.
Some have laughed at why Richarlison was holding his face when the boot looked to have went into his chest, then he produced a number of rolls to exaggerate the incident, but it did look rather naughty from the West Ham man.
Dermot Gallagher said on Ref Watch: “What I would say Rob is this is a massive risk to take for Cresswell, you think why would you do that?!
“What would allow you to do that?”
“You just, when I saw that, what is in his mind to do that?”
“Free-kick’s been given, leave it to the referee, the assistant’s there, VAR looked a thought it was aggressive but not violent.”
He was questioned if he agreed, to which Dermot replied: “You can understand why he’s been given a chance because the ball is there, what I would say is that Richarlison did himself no favours there with his reaction because he certainly didn’t catch him in the face like he showed.”
Stephen Warnock said: “I think he is very very lucky, I agree with Dermot, I think he’s stupid for what he tried to do, it wouldn’t have surprised me if there was a red card shown, and I don’t think they’d have any arguments about it if there was.”
Sue Smith also agreed.
Player ratings
West Ham: Fabianski (6), Fredericks (6), Dawson (7), Zouma (6), Cresswell (6), Soucek (6), Rice (7), Bowen (7), Benrahma (7), Fornals (7), Antonio (8).
Subs: Yarmolenko (n/a), Noble (6).
Everton: Pickford (6), Kenny (4), Godfrey (7), Keane (4), Mykolenko (6), Doucoure (7), Holgate (7), Iwobi (6), Richarlison (7), Gray (6), Calvert-Lewin (6).
Subs: Gordon (6).
Man of the match: Michail Antonio.
West Ham boss David Moyes: “We give him [Aaron Cresswell] a lot of stick because he practises free-kicks so much and has not had many goals. He has had a lot of assists in other ways. It was a real good free-kick today.
“It was a really good win and I thought the players did a really good job. I would like the standards and levels to be better. Coming back from international duty and getting the players back on it is never easy. It was a tough game. We huffed and puffed at times. We had opportunities but so did they.
“We have a huge game coming up on Thursday night. I would like to say that wasn’t playing in my mind, but it clearly was. I’d like to say all the players have come through OK, Jarrod Bowen included.
“We know that Jarrod has goals in him. It was unfortunate the injury he got as we could have found him being part of the England squad. Gareth may look at him again in the summer if he keeps his form up. But for us he does a great job. Hopefully he is rejuvenated after the break and can play even better.
“This is just the starter. We have the main course coming up on Thursday and hopefully we can be quicker and sharper.”
Everton boss Frank Lampard: We’re disappointed because we deserved at least a point from the game. At 1-1 I fancied us to score a second. There’s a mistake and they break away and score. It drops to them. The first goal is a free-kick in the top corner.
“The reality is that we are in that kind of moment where everything is going against us – decisions, moments in games, red cards. I can’t fault the players, their character, play generally. The performance was really positive and we have 10 games to perform like that again and more.
“We weren’t so good at Palace but passion and desire has been there. Not many teams do it every week. The reason we are in this position is that we want to get better. Today it was there and this is a tough place to come. They are organised and have quality.
“But two or three seasons ago they were fighting relegation. Now look at them and where they are. That is the reality of football. The curve moves quickly and you need to make that work in your favour. It is not going our way at the moment, but we have to keep working. It is not easy to take positives from no points but we have to take positives from the performance.
“The red card changes plans. It is the third game in a row. Two of those sending-offs are yellows you can be frustrated with. One is not a sending-off. Allan against Newcastle should be overturned but people want to save face. It is difficult with 10 men. We kept going and the spirit and resilience in the team was really good.”
SEE MORE: Premier League fixtures live on TV this week
Twitter users had their say with Everton fans angered at the footage of Aaron Cresswell booting Richarlison…
@Vernilley: Red all-day long. Dangerous play
@Richard_Lyd31: Creswell is a red 😛😛
@RobinS66BS: This and last season your players have done far worse and got away with it….
@timynwa93: Because your players acts like he’s been shot
@Kopiteklopp: Because it’s Richarlison and everyone wants to do it to him 😖
@LFCDunc: Clear dive
@davidbarrie2012: Any reason why he’s holding his face?
@KSta1878: Does that make it not a red card?
@Kev1Lfc: He deserves a knighthood for that
@Alan45075546: Yes it should have been 2 yellows & in turn a red. Diving & simulation to mislead the match official & then a deliberate hand ball!
@ConLJohnston: @premierleague @FA What’s the excuse this week…. Best league in the world, with the worst officials in the world
@jrahughes: Yeah you’re right. Blatant hand ball, ball still in play.
If this isn’t a red card, then what is? pic.twitter.com/bF0YlVd4o1
— Charlie 🇺🇦⚒ (@CH4RLIEKN0TT) April 4, 2022
@plfc15: A better question should be why is he covering his face?
@HatchPeter: The reaction of the Everton players tells you everything you need to know. Imagine that happening to a team mate of Reid, Sharp, Ratcliffe and Van den Hauwe. There’d have been murder
@Marco_willo5: The whistle had gone and you can see him tell Richy to get up then he boots him, he should of walked
@bl02efc: Just shows how corrupt @FA & VAR is, but the referees are so protected and it was only against Everton so that’s alright then.
@Whu_life: If he’s been kicked in the side why does he hold his face lol 😂
@AdamLoveday92: Why is he holding his face when he didn’t get kicked there? Diving big nose prick got what he deserved… oh by the way he was quick enough to get up though 👍🏻
@StevenMcauley2: Absolutely!! Rolling around like that trying to get a good lad into trouble!
@LFC_talk_YNWA: Cresswell just gone right up in my opinion of him 👍👌🤷🏻♂️🤣
@toffeeman24: @premierleague Can you explain why this isn’t a red card?
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