Everton star breaks ranks to call out referee Andy Madley after Man Utd controversy

Everton defender Jake O’Brien felt the penalty decision Andy Madley made wasn’t the only decision he got ‘wrong’.

The Toffees were denied a stoppage-time penalty against Manchester United when the official overruled his own decision. Ashley Young went down in the box after he had his shirt pulled by Matthijs de Ligt and then Harry Maguire.

Madley pointed to the spot but was then instructed by VAR Matt Donohue to review the decision on the monitor and he changed his mind after Young went down theatrically.

It led to some confrontations at the end while in the tunnel afterwards England team-mates Jordan Pickford and Harry Maguire debated the decision. James Tarkowski also got involved and joked with Maguire by playfully saying “H, you better get out of here now. You s*** yourself!”.

The trio then chatted for a while on other matters so there were clearly no ill feelings.

O’Brien said: “I think it was a penalty. From what I could see, it looked obvious, it didn’t even look like something you would check, but I think he has made, from what I think, a lot of wrong decisions today.

“I haven’t seen it back after the game yet or spoke too much about it, but we are all gutted in there; we think it was a penalty. It would have changed how it went at the end.”

United boss Ruben Amorim felt it was a “soft” decision. He said: “I didn’t see it quite well but it was a little bit [of a] soft touch and we are in England.

“So you guys enjoy a lot the physicality of the game, I think. But I think it was clear to overturn it.”

Regardless of the late disappointment it was another positive afternoon for a transformed Everton, who have now picked up 14 points in David Moyes ' first seven games back at Goodison.

And O'Brien admitted that while he wasn’t happy under Sean Dyche at Everton he is thankful for the trust Moyes has quickly placed in him.

The Republic of Ireland defender made just two appearances in the Premier League under Dyche despite being signed for £15m in the summer from Lyon. Dyche clearly didn’t rate the defender but he has started seven of the eight games Moyes has been in charge.

O’Brien, 23, has been playing at right back instead of his favoured central position but he’s just glad to be playing after it looked like his move to Goodison Park was a huge mistake.

He said: “I wasn’t happy that I wasn’t playing. I had conversations and I wasn’t happy for those few months. I worked hard in training and when my chance came, I think I took it.

“Look, it is football, some managers like [you] and some managers don’t. It is a game of opinions. I think the old manager didn’t like the way I played, but the new manager has seen something in me give me a run of games.”

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