David Moyes blasts 'very strange' and 'unbelievable' Darren England decisions in Everton derby loss

David Moyes, manager of Everton, waits for the officials

Everton manager David Moyes echoed the anger of Jack Grealish as he questioned the decisions of referee Darren England in the final stages of the Merseyside derby.

With the Blues pushing for a late equaliser, they had a quick free-kick pulled back as they looked to attack.

It was a decision that ended with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall being booked for his protest.

That only three minutes were added on at the end was also met with frustration.

It resulted in Grealish picking up a yellow card as he argued over the calls after the final whistle.

The Blues boss said: “I think three minutes [stoppage time] was very strange [and] we've been playing a couple of teams who've taken quick free-kicks in the games and they've caught us out.

“But today, every quick free-kick had to be stopped and brought back for the whistle. And then we got a booking for it.

“I find it quite unbelievable. They're talking about trying to keep the game quick.”

The frustration did not hide Moyes’ belief this was a game Everton lost with a tame opening 30 minutes in which Ryan Gravenberch and Hugo Ekitike both scored.

He said: “We didn't want them to play the way we started the game, that's for sure.”

While he could take pride in the second-half fightback, in which Idrissa Gueye pulled one back for the visitors, he added: If I'm being honest, the way I'm at at the moment, I'm more disappointed how we didn't start the game better because it wasn't the plan.

This was Liverpool's third game in six days and I have to be fair there, so I'm aware of that.

Moyes

“We had an opportunity because maybe we would have caught them with a bit of fatigue etc. And we didn't.

“I'll look at the first half and I'll start myself first of all and see if we should have done something different and better than we did do.

“But look, great credit, it was a bit more like Everton in the second half, a bit more like us.

“Look, I don't think anybody would have probably turned and said, ‘hey, you didn't deserve it’, if we got back into the game, but I think we just gave ourselves probably a little bit of a task too far by going two down.”

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