The Premier League have confirmed why Samuel Barrot decided against sending James Tarkowski off after he left Alexis Mac Allister in a heap with a dangerous tackle during the first half of Wednesday night’s Merseyside derby.

The Everton defender went flying into a tackle on Mac Allister just outside his penalty area. The Liverpool star was left writhing in pain as VAR reviewed the incident to determine whether or not Tarkowski’s challenge met the threshold for serious foul play, eventually determining that it did not.

A social media post on the Premier League’s Match Centre account was then released a few minutes later explaining Tarkowski had ‘played the ball’. The post read: “The referee’s call of yellow card for a reckless foul by Tarkowski was checked by the VAR, with contact on the follow through after Tarkowski had played the ball deemed to be reckless.”

While Tarkowski’s challenge was judged to be reckless by VAR, not everybody agreed with that call.

Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville, commentating on the game, branded the tackle ‘horrible’, saying: “It is a horrible tackle. He did not need to follow through like that.”

Former Premier League official Mike Dean went one further by questioning VAR’s failure to overturn the call on Sky Sports News. Dean said: “He should have gone to the screen and he should be off. It is a horrible challenge. It is a red card all day.”

Mac Allister was left in agony after the tackle ( 
Image:
Paul Ellis/AFP)
Former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock also condemned the challenge on BBC Radio 5 Live, saying Tarkowski was ‘out of control’. He raged: “This challenge is nasty from James Tarkowski. He wins the ball, but follows-through on Alexis Mac Allister.

“Tarkowski knows exactly what he’s doing in that situation. I think it is so dangerous. It is out of control from Tarkowski.”

Jamie Carragher chimed in at half time, saying: “We’ll talk about VAR but the referee, Sam Barrot, he’s in a brilliant position – he should give that on the pitch. He has to see that. Has to. It’s a shocking tackle, we know it should be a red card, it’s not even really up for debate. The referee should get it.”

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