'It's hard' - Everton boss gives honest season VAR admission after recent frustrations

Everton manager Sean Dyche gave a passionate speech about his side's misfortune with refereeing decisions across the season so far in the aftermath of the Amadou Onana penalty decision against Manchester City.

The Toffees conceded a penalty in the second half with the game tied at 1-1 as Onana was deemed to have handled the ball in the box as he slid in to block Nathan Ake's shot. What was most frustrating for Everton fans was the fact that the defender made poor contact with the strike and scuffed the ball upwards into the oncoming defender.

That decision helped give City the lead and they eventually ran out as 3-1 winners but it was a decision that was contested by Dyche in his post-match interview. Frustrations are high already with the 10-point deduction but it comes just a few days after Dominic Calvert-Lewin had a goal disallowed against Tottenham which baffled fans.

As a result, refereeing decisions were a hot topic at Dyche's press conference ahead of his side's trip to Wolves as he commented on the decisions that have gone against his side this season, claiming it is hard to bring them up given the incidents this season.

"You don't want to cry it in, I don't think any manager wants to by the way, but it's very hard not to speak about it. Very early season, if you remember the Michael Keane goal, the keeper drops it at the end of the day and it is not turned around. The sending off at Liverpool - not turned around. The one at Spurs; I watched it back and for all Ange [Postecoglou], bless him, said afterwards that it was a definite foul - he didn't even respond, he's just like 'yeah, they've scored, end of.' So in hindsight, he's really guilty of it.

"I think last night, everyone's confused by the handball situation and managers spoke very clearly to the powers that be earlier this season, including myself, that was a really poor one from me. Like I said afterwards, if that's a penalty then Onana should be a keeper because he has some reflexes to stop that if it was deliberate. And I know deliberate doesn't count anymore, it's all nonsense, it should go back to the old days.

"The other frustration is who's giving what; after the situation at Tottenham, I asked who's giving what and the linesman gives this one 50 yards away, the referee is 12 yards away. It's more the confusion, they're under enough scrutiny."