Everton regular confirms Tarkowski apology, but his comments will still infuriate Liverpool fans
James Tarkowski has been a headline maker in both Merseyside derbies this season for very different reasons.
Having scored a 98th-minute equaliser for Everton at Goodison Park in February, he was involved in a controversial moment in the opening quarter-hour of the reverse fixture last night when lunging in dangerously on Alexis Mac Allister.
Sam Barrott showed a yellow card to the Toffees defender, with that decision bafflingly upheld by VAR, and even Gary Neville was appalled by the 32-year-old’s ‘horrible’ challenge.
Pickford confirms post-match Tarkowski apology
Tarkowski apologised to the Liverpool midfielder after the match, as confirmed by Jordan Pickford, who had his own interesting take on the 11th-minute flashpoint.
Speaking to Sky Sports, the Everton goalkeeper said (via Yahoo! Sports): “You’ve seen at the end he apologised. It’s probably a bit of a high foot but he’s done what he’s done and he’s apologised after the game. The VAR says it’s not a red card so that’s the decision. It’s a game of football as well.”
At least Tarkowski has acknowledged he was wrong
The apology from Tarkowski is appreciated, and we presume that Mac Allister accepted it and is willing to move on, but we’re still at a loss to try and comprehend how the Everton defender was allowed to stay on the pitch (with Virgil van Dijk later exacting some retribution).
A Merseyside derby will always have plenty of bite to it, and that’s how it should be, but we can’t condone dangerous challenges which could seriously injure a player – thankfully the Liverpool midfielder didn’t show any lasting ill-effects from being scythed down by the Toffees’ number 6.
As for Pickford passing it off as ‘a bit of a high foot’ and ‘not a red card’, we all know that the England goalkeeper has form for taking out Reds players after what happened with Van Dijk in 2020, and he made another reckless (but less forceful) high challenge on Darwin Nunez last night which went unpunished.
Arne Slot refused to be drawn on the incident when speaking to Sky Sports after the final whistle, and he and his squad will now be switching their focus to the Fulham game on Sunday.
However, Tarkowski’s foul on Mac Allister yielding only a yellow card should warrant plenty of discussion among Howard Webb and the PGMOL, whose response to that incident will be rather interesting if indeed there is one.
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