Sean Dyche hits out at VAR confusion after Everton defeat to Man United

Sean Dyche hit out at the confusion created by VAR after it intervened to award Manchester United a crucial second-half penalty.

Referee John Brooks initially booked Anthony Martial for a dive when he went down in the Everton box just after the break. But he was sent to his monitor to re-evaluate and overturned the initial call, finding Ashley Young had brought down his opponent illegally.

Dyche questioned the decision as “contentious” and criticised both the VAR process and the rulebook for a lack of clarity, stating he had been told that on-field referees should have the ultimate say.

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The Blues boss has insisted he is a supporter of the principle of VAR but once again found himself scrutinising its use after Everton’s 3-0 defeat to United. Marcus Rashford converted the penalty to double his side’s lead and quell any momentum Everton sought to build after the break.

Following the game, Dyche said: “I know I am a big fan [of VAR] but it is just all over the place. You keep staring at someone. There are so many contacts in a box now, the way I look at it is he [Martial] was never going to get it, we had a covering defender. Players nowadays play for these things and that is standard but the game has got to work that out.

"And then VAR, generally, for fans, I said this when we had the Liverpool game, the screen thing is a farce. Everyone is talking about speeding the game up and the referee goes to the screen and we all know what the outcome is. Good or bad