Mike Dean Blasts Michael Oliver and VAR Over Controversial Decision in Everton vs Man City match<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former Premier League referee Mike Dean has launched a fierce attack on Michael Oliver and the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) following their handling of a highly controversial incident in Everton\u2019s pulsating 3-3 draw with Manchester City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking after the match, Dean insisted Everton were robbed of a clear penalty when Bernardo Silva held and dragged an Everton player to the ground inside the box. \u201cEverton should have been awarded a penalty for Bernardo Silva\u2019s action,\u201d Dean declared. \u201cIt was blatant holding with no attempt to play the ball. That\u2019s a stonewall spot-kick.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Dean offered a loose concession on the added time \u2014 admitting the six minutes signalled by the fourth official was \u201ca little not off\u201d \u2014 he refused to let Oliver and VAR off the hook for the bigger issue. \u201cThe holding by Bernardo should have been awarded as a penalty,\u201d he stressed. Dean argued the officials\u2019 failure to act exposed worrying inconsistency in decision-making at the highest level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ex-referee, never one to shy away from criticism, went further, claiming the refereeing team\u2019s approach is becoming worryingly erratic. \u201cThe referee and VAR are getting inconsistent,\u201d he said, \u201cand Everton are always in the mix-up when these big calls go against them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The flashpoint came as Everton pushed hard for a winner after twice coming from behind. City\u2019s late equaliser by J\u00e9r\u00e9my Doku in the 97th minute only intensified the sense of injustice among Toffees fans, who felt the officials had given the visitors just enough stoppage time while ignoring an obvious foul moments earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dean\u2019s comments have reignited the wider debate about VAR\u2019s effectiveness and the consistency of top-flight officials. With Everton once again on the wrong end of a contentious decision, many supporters will hope Dean\u2019s outspoken criticism forces the PGMOL to take a closer look at how such calls are judged in future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike Dean Blasts Michael Oliver and VAR Over Controversial Decision in Everton vs Man City match Former Premier…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-246","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-everton"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/agajahub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1000321620.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agajahub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agajahub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agajahub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agajahub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agajahub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/agajahub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":249,"href":"https:\/\/agajahub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246\/revisions\/249"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agajahub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agajahub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agajahub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agajahub.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}