David Moyes called Jake O’Brien’s handball “a poor penalty to concede” as Arsenal scored the only goal of the game from 12 yards at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday.
O’Brien, trying to defend a corner-kick, was guilty of putting his hands above his head while trying to clear a ball. Although his response was prompted after a perceived push from Riccardo Calafiori, it was deemed to be a clear handball by VAR.
Viktor Gyokeres converted from the spot to secure a 1-0 win for the league leaders.
Asked about the penalty being the turning point of the contest, Moyes remarked, “Yes, and a really poor penalty from our point of view.
“If you're going to lose to Arsenal, you hope you might lose to Arsenal by a goal, which they're more than capable of scoring.
“So it was a poor decision by Jake, he shouldn't have raised his arms above his head at the action, but look, he feels he gets slightly pushed from behind and that caused his arms to fly up.”
The Toffees were also denied a penalty of their own when Thierno Barry was kicked inside the opposition box by William Saliba. While he was initially unsure whether the contact was sufficient to be given a penalty for, Moyes’ reaction changed to one of frustration, adding that VAR has given some of those calls in the past.
“I think we could have done. I think on another day somebody might have given a penalty,” said the Everton boss.
“I think Saliba kicks the back of Thierno's Achilles, it looks like, and it's not as if he's sort of pulled his foot away, he's kicked through. I just think it looked like a bit of an action where there wasn't much happening, and Thierno's got in front of him and he's kicked.
“I don't know if the referee was expecting it or VAR, but it didn't go our way. We've not been getting many decisions here, that's for sure.”
Reader Comments (3)
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2 Posted 22/12/2025 at 21:34:14
Defender kicks foot of forward with less force than Everton one. Senior referee Taylor says penalty, no ball…
Totally inconsistent.
3 Posted 27/12/2025 at 17:48:34
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1 Posted 22/12/2025 at 08:00:36
If Jake O'Brien can get a push and a hit around the kidney area which causes him to concede a penalty, what's the difference between that and what Saliba did to Barry?