Match Recap: United Escapes Goodison with 2-2 Draw Thanks to Baffling VAR Call

A thrilling first half, a not-so-thrilling second half, and another terrible VAR decision puts a damper on a gorgeous day at Goodison Park

It was a beautiful, sunny day at Goodison Park. The home supporters were in full voice, riding a superb run of form that seemed impossible a little more than a month ago. The dread, the dreariness, the sadness are all gone, replaced by hope and a little bit of confidence.

There was a time we would’ve dreaded Manchester United coming to Goodison Park. Not today. Today, it was United—spiraling ever downward, new manager Rubin Amorim unable to stem the bleeding wound inflicted on the club by Erik Ten Hag—that dreaded what was to come. During the pre-match warmups, Everton legend Duncan Ferguson noted that he didn’t like what he was seeing from the United players’ body language.

Ferguson was right. This United seemed off. Very unlike United squads are supposed to look.

And Everton capitalized.

Beto can’t stop scoring

At 21 minutes in, after United had several chances to clear the ball and failed to do so, the ball fell neatly for Beto and, as he has done in his last five games, he sliced it into the net with power and precision. Goodison went wild. And then fell silent for three minutes as they waited for VAR to check and see if there was an offsides in there somewhere. There wasn’t, and it was clear from first watch that Beto was onside. But still, VAR.

That’s the worst thing about VAR, I think. Other than bad VAR decisions ruining games—and we’ll talk more about this in a second—the main thing it does is take the joy out of goal celebrations. Scoring a goal and celebrating is one of the coolest things about football. But these days, we celebrate for a few seconds, then wait and wait and wait while some official rewatches the play dozens of times in slow motion.

Even when the goals are confirmed, the moment is lost. That sheer rapture is reduced to mild relief.

And that sucks. For the players, and for the fans.

At 33 minutes, Abdoulaye Doucoure doubled Everton’s lead with a great poachers goal. All the rage I felt when I learned Doucs would be starting instead of Charly Alvarez—the man quickly becoming my other favorite current Everton player alongside Beto—dissipated.

Everton went into the half up 2-0, and I started writing this recap, confident this was going to be a dominant victory for the Toffees.

It was not.

Boy, that second half was terrible.

All the fire and creativity and verve Everton displayed in the first half was gone in the second. And boy, Amorim must’ve given one hell of a halftime speech, because the United team that took the field in the second half was not the same squad from the first half. They weren’t great, but they were enough to level an Everton squad that started to show some tired legs.

And yet, Everton still should’ve had the chance to win the match. And they didn’t get it because of a bullshit call.

Let’s Talk About That Horrible VAR Decision

Near the end of extra time, Matthijs De Ligt and Harry Maguire were penalized for fouling Ashley Young in the box. De Ligt pulled Young’s shirt, Maguire grabbed Young around the waist, and Young immediately went to the ground. Referee Andy Madley immediately blew his whistle and pointed to the spot. Penalty.

But then Matt Donohue, the VAR official over at Stockley Park today, got involved. I wrote this about Donohue two days ago:

Matt Donohue will handle VAR duties. If Donohue’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s the guy who disallowed Beto’s late equalizer against Southampton, which resulted in The Good Guys (Everton) losing 1-0. It was a bad call, which the Premier League excused by noting it was Donohue’s second time on VAR duty.

So when Donohue called Madley to the sideline, I was nervous.

Rightly so.

Because Donohue only allowed Madley to see one angle of the incident—an angle that showed Maguire’s waist grab, but not De Ligt’s shirt pull. He didn’t show Madley any other angles—all of which clearly showed De Ligt pulling Young’s shirt.

Madley watched the one angle, decided Maguire’s actions weren’t enough for a penalty, and reversed the call.

Here’s what Madley should have seen

This video, filmed by user @tacticallymatt¹ on X, clearly shows De Ligt pulling Young’s shirt.

And here’s a still from the broadcast, clearly showing the shirt pull.

Now, look. A shirt pull in the penalty box is not an automatic penalty.² It’s up to the referee’s discretion whether or not to award a penalty. But the referee can’t utilize his own discretion if he isn’t shown the damn shirt pull in the first place.

The Premier League issued a statement pretty quickly on the matter.

Well, less of a statement, and more of a quick recap of what happened, offering no context or anything else that might be helpful to those seeking answers.

"VAR checked the referee's call of penalty to Everton for a challenge by Maguire on Young and deemed that no foul had been committed and recommended an on-field review. The referee overturned the original decision and play restarted with a drop ball."

Thanks, Premier League media folks! Very helpful.

Look. There’s no way of knowing if Everton would’ve won the match if the correct call stood. Andre Onana could’ve blocked the penalty kick.³ Beto could’ve missed it entirely. ⁴

But we should’ve had the chance to score that winning goal, regardless what the outcome would have been. We didn’t get that chance, though, because of a terrible system that is ruining the game of football in countless ways.`

F O O T N O T E S

1. Matt is a great follow if you’re into the tactical side of the game.

2. It probably should be, though.

3. Stop laughing. It could happen.

4. Not likely, given his form lately.