Mark Clattenburg says ‘strange’ Liverpool vs Everton refereeing directly impacted the result

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The Merseyside derby is one of the toughest fixtures to officiate in the Premier League and Darren England showed that during Saturday’s 2-1 win for Liverpool.

Everton left Anfield feeling hard done by following several decisions which went against them during the 247th Merseyside derby.

The Toffees were frustrated by decisions involving a lack of stoppage time when they were chasing the game, and also a controversial booking for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.

Now, Mark Clattenburg has been discussing the performance of Darren England during the derby and has questioned some of his decision-making.

Darren England’s performance during Liverpool vs Everton questioned

Clattenburg has questioned England’s performance during Liverpool versus Everton in the latest instalment of the Merseyside derby.

The former Premier League official believes England’s inexperience meant that he allowed the pressure to get to him, and it showed during the feisty encounter.

Clattenburg told Beyond the Back Four: “I thought Darren England in the Merseyside derby – some of the decision-making was strange. It wasn’t in keeping with what we expect, certainly at Premier League level.

“I just felt, when we talk about Dewsbury-Hall in a second, that it was also the added-on time and the way Everton were chasing the game.

“It’s such a difficult fixture – I already know, because I messed it up many years ago. It’s not an easy fixture. It’s certainly easier at Liverpool than it is at Everton.

“But I just felt that he didn’t handle the pressure and the occasion like a top, experienced referee like Anthony Taylor would have.”

Mark Clattenburg critiques Darren England’s Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall decision and the lack of added time

One of Everton’s main complaints was the decision to add just three minutes on to the end of the game, with the sense that there should have been more.

“Yeah, I think, first of all, there’s slightly another added context to this, that the added-on time didn’t seem to add up. I think there were three minutes given at the end of the game, and Everton were complaining about this,” said Clattenburg.

Clattenburg believes that England was wrong to book Dewsbury-Hall for attempting to take a free-kick, and instead, he should have just managed the situation by warning him about wasting Everton’s own time.

“Look, if you take that into context as well – who’s got the free kick? Everton have the free kick, and therefore Darren England hasn’t really set himself up properly. He’s not really watching the game. Everton want to get on with the game. As a referee, you want the game to be getting on as quickly as possible. You want to get into position, blow your whistle, and get on with the game.

“Dewsbury-Hall has taken a quick free kick. What if he’s taken the quick free kick and the referee hasn’t told him that he’s got to wait for the whistle? Which is fine – players do have to wait for the referee’s whistle. If he hasn’t, Dewsbury-Hall has a right to play the free kick. He owns the free kick.

“So that could be a confusing element. But even if Dewsbury-Hall had taken the quick free kick, in my opinion, I would have used my experience and said to Dewsbury-Hall, ‘Look, it goes back, and by the way, it’s your time that you’ve wasted because you’ve taken the quick free kick.’

“Why give the yellow card? If you really want to be perfect within the laws of the game, you can clearly say, ‘Yes, by the letter of the law, that can be a yellow card.’ But that’s not what we’ve always expected in the Premier League with referees over the years. We’ve been told to manage situations.

“And that was an easy management one, where you say, ‘Guys, look, take the quick free, take the free kick again, and by the way, I’m not adding the time on.’ That’s Dewsbury-Hall’s fault.

“But to give a yellow card in that situation, in such a huge game and under huge pressure, I just didn’t feel it needed it, and I didn’t believe Darren England had set up correctly to allow the quick free kick, which Dewsbury-Hall has the right to do.”