PGMOL delivers verdict on James Tarkowski red card decision against Liverpool | OneFootball

The Premier League's refereeing body PGMOL has admitted that Everton captain James Tarkowski deserved a red card for his challenge on Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister during Wednesday's Merseyside derby.

The English centre-back cleared the ball on the edge of Everton's box in the 11th minute of the Premier League clash, but followed through onto Mac Allister's calf. Referee Sam Barrott was a handful of yards away and immediately flashed a yellow card.

VAR Paul Tierney - who had a long-running feud with former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp - agreed with the on-pitch decision. As the Premier League's official Match Centre X account explained during the game: "The referee's call of yellow card for a reckless foul by Tarkowski was checked by the VAR, with contact on the follow through after Tarkowski had played the ball deemed to be reckless."

Almost every onlooker from both sides of the Merseyside divide conceded that Tarkowski was fortunate to avoid a red card. Liverpool's Arne Slot dismissed the decision as "so obvious" he didn't even need to comment on it, while his Everton counterpart David Moyes admitted: "We could have been lucky we didn't get a red."

PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) belatedly agreed with this view. In a message dished out to a range of news outlets and first reported by ESPN on Thursday morning, the refereeing body revealed that Tarkowski's challenge "met the threshold for serious foul play", rather than being simply "reckless" as initially thought.

Law 12 in the official FA handbook defines a "reckless action" as "when a player acts with disregard to the danger to, or consequences for, an opponent and must be cautioned". This offence is only worthy of a yellow card.

"Serious foul play", which warrants a straight red, is defined as "a tackle or challenge that endangers the safety of an opponent or uses excessive force or brutality".

It remains to be seen whether Tarkowski will be retrospectively banned.