Premier League: Lampard slams VAR for Taiwo Awoniyi decision

🚨Frank Lampard reacts to the controversial refereeing decisions following Coventry’s 3-1 defeat to Everton: 🗣️Lampard: “I can’t believe what I’ve just watched. We lose 3-1 and the story of the night is James Tarkowski grabbing a handful of Caleb Yirenkyi’s hair in an aerial challenge inside the box around the 40th minute and getting away with it. He jumps, Tarkowski’s arm comes up, he gets a grip and yanks him out of the challenge. That’s not a natural coming-together. That’s clear contact that affects the outcome of the jump, and we’re supposed to just accept that VAR has a look and waves it away? It was an incident that looked bad enough, clear enough, that it needed a proper explanation. We didn’t get one. And when you’re a Championship side trying to compete with a Premier League club, those little differences in how things are viewed start to feel very convenient. Then you’ve got the Mykolenko challenge on Taiwo. He goes down in the box after contact. From where I was standing, and from what I’ve seen since, if that exact challenge happens on the edge of the box, it’s a foul. So why does the line on the floor suddenly change the laws of the game? We appealed it. It got looked at. And again, nothing. I’m not naive. I know not every appeal is right. But when you’re consistently on the wrong end of the marginal ones and the other team isn’t, you start asking questions about consistency. Harrison Armstrong’s handball is the same story. The ball hits his arm after a good move from Gboho. We’re told it’s not handball. Fine. But I’ve watched enough of these now to know that the exact same body shape, the exact same distance, gets given the other way plenty of times. So either the law is being applied differently depending on who’s attacking, or VAR is just guessing. Which is it? Because right now it feels like we have to clear a higher bar than they do. Same with Awoniyi after his ball got struck by Everton player and var didn’t even intervene. And then the winner. Barry’s goal. There’s a claim he uses his hand in the build-up. Whether he does or he doesn’t, that goal is what decides the game, and it comes in a passage where we’ve already had three or four big shouts ignored. So now the question isn’t just “was it handball?” The question is: if that sequence happens in our box and we score, does that goal stand? I think we all know the answer. Look, I’m not standing here saying we played perfectly. But we had to play Everton and we had to play the officials as well. And when the big moments come — the ones that actually swing the result — the decisions went one way. Every time. That’s not bad luck. That’s a pattern. What is the point of VAR if the obvious-looking ones still don’t get punished? What’s the point of having it if we’re still walking off the pitch wondering how a hair pull in the box doesn’t even get a proper review? And why is it that when a smaller club is in with a Premier League side, we’re the ones who have to just “get on with it” while the bigger club gets the benefit of every doubt? They won the game. Scoreboard says 3-1. But we have every right to feel robbed. Release the audio. Explain the decisions. Because from where I’m standing, this wasn’t just a defeat. This was a game that was decided by calls that simply wouldn’t have gone the other way. And until someone can look me in the eye and explain why a hair pull, a clear trip in the box, and a handball appeal all get dismissed in the same ninety minutes, I’ll keep saying it: we didn’t just lose to Everton tonight. We lost to the officials as well.

— 𝕍𝕗𝕪𝕟𝕟_🥷🏼 𐙚 (@Vfynn_) November 6, 2026