Everton boss Marco Silva said the video assistant referee rules in the FA Cup “do not make sense” after his side lost 3-2 at Millwall.
Everton had led twice through Richarlison and Cenk Tosun, with Lee Gregory scoring the first equaliser and Cooper netting the second. Jake Cooper scored an equaliser with his arm but VAR was not in use because the Championship side were at home.
The system is only used in FA Cup games at Premier League grounds this season – so would have been in place had Everton been at home instead of away.
“You have to do it for all the games. You have to be fair,” Silva said. “If the competition has VAR for some stadiums then it has to have it in all.”
Murray Wallace’s shot was saved by Jordan Pickford with Cooper turning the ball home with the top of his arm.
The incident was shown on the big screen at The Den, with Silva furious after seeing it again and making the VAR symbol to the officials. Meanwhile, Millwall boss Neil Harris frantically signalled for somebody to turn the screen off.
“At the time I thought Marco Silva was moaning that it was offside,” said Harris. “So I didn’t even know [about the handball].
“Can the referee change his mind from watching the big-screen replay? I don’t know. Even I couldn’t tell at that point.”
Silva said: “It was a clear handball. I’m sure handball is not allowed in football. We had seven, eight players in the penalty area. They all see that it’s handball, so it’s really difficult that the referee cannot see that also.
“And then it’s also on the big screen, thousands of people see it there but the referee didn’t see it again.
“It was really strange in that moment.” Millwall went on to score an injury-time winner through Wallace after Shaun Hutchinson’s downward header.
“Now we go home frustrated. You have to be fair, even with the competition, not just with Everton,” added Silva.
Source: BBC News
