Anton Stach involved in ‘naughty’ Leeds controversy vs Everton, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink agrees with VAR decision
Anton Stach may have gotten away with one for Leeds United against Everton on Monday.
Leeds travelled to face Everton in the Premier League, hoping for a third consecutive win across all competitions.
They couldn’t manage that as Leeds drew 1-1 with Everton after an excellently worked James Justin strike was cancelled out by Thierno Barry.
Leeds’ tactical change looked to have paid dividends against Everton once again, helping them dominate the first half and take all three points from Merseyside.
Things could have been different for Daniel Farke’s side if Stach had faced punishment for a sneaky moment at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink agrees with Anton Stach call vs Everton
Stach asked Nico Schlotterbeck to join Leeds over the weekend and then started for the Whites in central midfield on Monday.
The German was his all-action self against David Moyes’ side, with plenty of tackles flying in throughout the clash in L4.
That did overstep the mark when the 27-year-old was eventually booked for a poor challenge on Vitaliy Mykolenko in the second half.
He could have faced punishment in the first half when his challenge on Iliman Ndiaye went unpunished before Justin fired home the opener.
The decision raised questions on Merseyside, but Hasselbaink was in full agreement with the call live on Sky Sports.
He said: “You see a little, naughty push with the elbow there. Is it hard enough for him to go down like that? He thought so, but VAR didn’t. It’s one of those, isn’t it?“
Jamie Carragher joined him in the same opinion, “I don’t think it’s a foul. I think it’s one of those where, when it’s against you, you’ll say it’s a foul, and if it’s the other way around, they wouldn’t want it given.“
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What does Keith Hackett make of the Everton vs Leeds United controversy?
The Toffees may have complaints that the goal was given at Hill Dickinson after their star man had gone down in the build-up.
Stach did appear to have used an elbow in his challenge, but neither Hasselbaink nor Carragher could truly say that it was a foul.
That is the agreement of the former PGMOL chief, Keith Hackett, who has suggested that Ndiaye actually went down too easily.
Speaking exclusively to MOT Leeds News, he said: “No, the Everton player has gone to ground too easily and is exaggerating his fall to try to convince the officials that an offence has taken place.
“Referee Simon Hooper made the correct call to ignore.“
It feels as if the on-field officials and VAR got this one right, but Stach needs to be careful, as he took a sizable risk on this occasion.
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