Andy and Adam join Lyndon to vent a bit more about Video Assistant Refereeing and the poverty of quality of the officiating in general as they review Everton’s final game of 2023-24, the 2-1 defeat to Arsenal.

They also pick their player of the season, goal of the season and performance of the season.

[Applause] stand by for operation with exercise stand by for operation person [Music] [Applause] exercise this is the toffey web podcast [Music] gay and uh ashy young over it and uh it’s gone in it’s itron G he’s at it again how about that Thomas parte now here’s oard he’s got the back for Tommy Yu and makes it 1-1 Young’s ball is a dangerous one it’s cut out by jus and Everton are in trouble here jayus for odard odard oh he fluffed his lines initially but it ran through for Kai H to put it into the Everton net he’s given the goal well that is an unusual one we feel agreed the goal because it’s a clear on ball we’re all a bit confused what H ball is and isn’t and that’s fair to say there’s a every week about handball but that one for me is clearly diverts the part ball pass Target into the line of his run and then leads to a golf you know we said walk out that screen and we know what’s going to happen then just going to go along with what’s happened in next occasion it doesn’t with the one you know I don’t know how many there is this season I think there’s been two turned around and that one’s turned around say [Music] [Applause] another season in the books but this was no ordinary season beset by adversity at every turn it seems from a threadbear squad and V controversy to two separate points deductions to a seemingly never-ending takeover Saga there were times when it seemed as though the world was conspiring to finally send Everton down but thanks to the spirit of the Blues the experience and motivational powers of Shawn D and his staff and a timely turn in the team’s fortunes down the home stretch we left to fight another day in the end Everton beat relegation by 14 points 22 if you discount the eight points taken away by the Premier League which incidentally cost a club around 10 million pound thanks very much and if it weren’t for the ongoing threat of further PSR punishment and the financial chaos gripping the club we might actually be going into the summer with a measure of optimism but then we never do anything the easy way doy Blu welcome to the latest edition of the tare podcast Andy and Adam are here with me to chat about that final game of 2023 24 which was that infuriating to undefeated Arsenal and to look back on the season as a whole but we’ll start by casting our minds back to Sunday at the Emirates Andy we were so very close to finishing the campaign a sixth game unbeaten but a combination of our old friend Ashley Young and increasingly our foe Michael Oliver meant that we lost oh had Arsenal once again yeah I thought we deserved something from that thought we were quite good um I quite enjoyed the performance against uh what is a very good team obviously who was which was motivated to win however slim their chances were they had to go and win themselves um I thought it was you know we’ve written it off for months haven’t we haven’t we when we’ve seen that one kind of gradually coming onto the Horizon but it didn’t pan out like that um I know they had their chances and I know they hit the the woodwork but so did we and I I I think it was a a kind of what would have been a really positive way to end the season would be to get a point there I know it doesn’t necessarily matter in the grand scheme of things but I I thought that would have been a really almost a really fitting way to end the season um with a with a half decent performance defensively at least although you know we we did play some stuff at times um and I I was thinking we kind of five minutes to go God you know what this this would be just a nice way to walk into whatever Sunset we’re walking into um is it a sunset or is it a storm probably um but it would have been a great way to do and I still think that all of all of those feelings and all of those kind of um all of all of those things are still there it was a very positive way to end the season against the top side um we’ll probably go into Arsenal’s second goal and my friend V AR will will come into that again um but that aside um I did think it was a positive way to end the season and you you mentioned Ashley Young is is a it’s a bit of a weird one is at times because you expect your most senior player or your most experienced player to not do that um it’s strange how sometimes he does I mean you know regardless I mean when you’re talking about older players and you’re talking about players who have have been around the block seen it done it you you know you can forgive um maybe the physicality not being what it was you can for forgive you know that that yard or two of pace you can even forgive kind of motivation at times but it’s almost the opposite with him in that you seem to kind of have these mistakes that creep in that that that if um I don’t know if if a young player came into the side like Lewis Warrington at the weekend and did that you’d think oh God he’s not ready and it’s just a very strange one with him um but hey put that aside I I thought I thought um I thought they did well and um a point would have been brilliant um it wouldn’t have actually meant much in fact it wouldn’t have meant anything in the end because brenford lost as well so um but but I I was quite impressed yeah I think we spoke about it being both a free hit and also a bit of a benchmark for where we’re at under Shawn D um because of the fact that for us there wasn’t really a lot to play for potentially um keeping ourselves ahead of brenford and also acting as a bit a potential spoiler if City didn’t get a result um and compared to the last performance away at the Emirates it was a mark Improvement we were a lot more dangerous on the Counterattack we created chances we scored a goal with our goal scoring midfielder machine Garay um who all who got his new contract extension I think that’s a really good bit of business um that happened since we last recorded and lots of positives to take as you s the one thing missing would have been the point of the end of it which we fully merited it um and yeah as as you said at lynon a combination of naivity from Ashley Young which sadly we’ve seen it on a couple occasions I think the rest of the game he was pretty solid and handled the threat of Arsenal pretty well um considering those issues that he has quite obviously with Pace um against a very very good attacking side who’ve got far more resources than we have um but it’s it’s an era that I if I go back to my own um sadly shortlived football in career God I could have gone far um I feel like one of the first things you taught is not to pass across your own goal line it feels like a very fundamental part of the footballing journey um and obviously that Journey for Ashley Young started some time ago but it feels like a very obvious misstep what he obviously can’t mitigate for and um I’m looking forward to getting up on the V so box uh today at some point um but um I probably can’t always room always room up here come join me come join me it’s a cozy place to be I’m sure um but a a bizarre decision that thankfully cost us yeah a a point in in the grand scheme of things but thank God there wasn’t more riding on that game for both sides because they could easily have been a position where that game affected both the relegation battle and the title battle and to have a decision like that go completely uh um not only unchecked at the Time by Michael Oliver but certainly the kind of postmatch analysis of it I get because city won the league it became a diluted matter and we with all our sense of Injustice quite rightly um I might add are the ones banging the drum saying oh my god did you see that the weekend and at this point no one really cares they want the season over and done with and wrapped up in a nice little Pep Guardiola bow but yes it’s it’s another annoying isn’t it so that’s that’s the yeah the sad part about Sunday but yeah the good part is we’re a pretty solid side on the whole who have started to find a bit of confidence going forward who are finding goals against the run a play who have a striker who is fit and in form and as you said Andy hit the woodwork which is you know certainly more than we did in the last game at the Emirates it’s a good Benchmark going forward the kind of asteris next to all this um which I’m sure we’ll discuss in later podcast episodes over the summer is what’s that side going to look like come next August um it might look quite different shall we say um but on the whole a a pretty positive way to end what’s been a bit of a disaster of a season yes I agree actually there actually quite a lot to unpack there isn’t there I mean starting with with Ashley Young your Benchmark for these older players that we’ve that we’ve had from time to time is always Richard Goff and you can’t imagine Richard Goff doing something like that he’s he was just such a so solid so reliable and that’s I mean that’s really what you want out of your uh player approaching 40 years old who’s on a you know a fatter contract than perhaps those kinds of performances would suggest or would warrant but as you said was and I think you said Andy that that he’ done actually okay for the for most of the game he’d actually done pretty well and I think on balance if you look at the season as a whole he was probably a net positive even with those infuriating moments like you know the penalties given away in the derby and you know we we’ve had plenty of conversations on this podcast about Ashley Young and the fact that at times he can be a liability but I think on the whole he’s been a net positive the the signing was a net positive and in general you got you got what you were hoping you would get from him which is experience and um you know a level of Fitness that that does Bell his age um and so yeah I think I think the fact that he’s he’s probably going to sign a new contract again and we’ll have our we’ll have our uh we’ll have our transfer pod probably starting next week but you know given all the uncertainty around the squad coming up I think it’s a a bit of a no-brainer but uh yeah the the performance on a whole I thought was was actually you know pretty uh pretty impressive obviously going forward we’ve we’ve had our challenges all season going forward and it’s really I I really wish that that Shawn D would sort of swallow his pride a bit and just hire an attacking coach because that’s clearly where you know our problems are I think some of it some of it is is is to do with the players I think some of it is uh it’s just sort of I sort of used this term muscle memory before and it just seems as that they get into these areas and they just don’t know what to do you know the the couple of times obviously the pass was on for dor he was peeling away inter space through ball would have would have put him in on goal and you know with takura you never quite know what you’re going to get so who knows whether he would have put anything away but at least you know at least put the true ball through there uh I think was it uh who was guilty of it the first time was it Adisa gay I can’t remember who was but the second time was was chimti when we had really promising four on two break and it just came to nothing and it’s those you know it’s those instances that you really need to make pay against a team like Arsenal and obviously on the flip side you know Jared brw had got away with one in the first half I think where he tried to ping one across his own half and it got intercepted nothing came from that one I think Jordan picked for BA him out of that one but obviously Ashley Young wasn’t uh wasn’t so lucky he obviously could have been and we’ll we’ll come on to the the VR discussion in a minute he obviously could have been had Michael Oliver’s ego not gotten the way but I think yeah overall I think it was a a decent performance I think um Dominick calv Leen really obviously really unfortunate not to score with the one that hit the post you know a few more inches to the right of David ryer maybe he curls one around him I think that was in the second half which uh you know a couple of really good looks for him uh otherwise playing that sort of thankless role that is being the lone Striker for Everton which can be a lot of running a lot of jumping and often often not much reward so uh you know that was pleasing it’s really nice to see that he’s he’s got to the end of a really difficult season but seems to be finding his Groove a bit um and obviously if he stays if we keep him for next season I think he can be really really important um but yeah I Me overall I think you know that the team kind of picked itself and they gave a really good account of themselves and I I was just so desperate for us to at least get something just to Ram guardiola’s words back down his throat you know what he said in his pre-match thing that oh you know if you think everon are going to get anything from Arsenal he needs to think again well we almost did probably should have done so uh yeah I think it was a good way it would have been a perfect way to end the season if we remained unbeaten but but hey you know and I think if we roll the tape back I predicted we’d we’d finish 12th and without the points deduction we would have finished 12 so that was uh quite nice and and a sort of a sort of backing up my feeling of of the combination of the manager and the squad I thought we were better than a relegation scrap and obviously without the points deductions who would have been quite safe for most of the season so it’s nice to see that pan out that way yeah on calv Leen I mean you know he made 38 appearances this season in all competitions um and that’s the most he’s made since the kylo anelo season when he when he couldn’t stop scoring yeah um the last the previous two seasons he’s made 18 appearances uh and you know obvious statement award but it a 38 a lot more I mean that’s that’s that’s a proper season and I think he’ll be in a much better play having done that his season kind of mirrors Everton’s really in that he he kind of started in terms of goals anyway he started um his season when he was fit quite well um and had a kind of Purple Patch and then it all went then it mirrored the team and it all went a little bit stale and then at the end he’s picked up again and it shows how important he is to us you know that if he plays well and he’s scoring the old goal you know he’s don’t think he’s ever going to be I know the Carlo season kind of um nullifies this statement but I don’t think he’s ever going to be um a brilliant goal scorer but if he’s picking up the odd goal and playing well Everton gen generally play well um he’s really important to us on the on the attacking coach thing I thought about this today because it has you know has been mentioned that Shawn D should kind of like um maybe elaborate a bit on his back room stuff um it’s it’s part of the the the balance that always is in football I mean I think yes Shawn D is probably naturally a little bit more cautious and a little bit more defensive in how he sets up teams um that’s that’s I don’t think there’s any kind of doubt in that but if but if he wasn’t so um I wonder whether it would have been Su as as successful because it is that never ending debate in football is is it’s the best teams have the balance at both ends of the pitch now Shawn D has obviously thought well I think the best way to us for us to approach what we’ve got in front of us which is an uphill task always at Everton with things being thrown at you the whole time and the squad he’s decided that defensively he’s going to get us out of this it might have been that another manager thinks okay we’re going to try and score more than you which I think Lampard did to begin with he thought oh we’re just going to score more goals than the other the other team and that also can end in terrible tears um uh and I I think I think if you if you don’t have the the the kind of the worst case scenario thrust in your face the whole time is oh my God if we don’t don’t get this right we’re going down and that could be it and also you have better attacking players I don’t think I still don’t think ever have very good attacking players and yet we expect them to be better attacking wise I just don’t think we have them I I mean who would be a good attacking not not carv Leen but behind that I mean mcneel is a Creator but he he he he kind of comes in and out of games and even and out of seasons we have no creativity in Midfield at all which is why Gomez toight look saw th I don’t think Jack Harrison’s very creative at all I I mean he he has his moments but there just isn’t there aren’t the players and I always i’ I’ve said like all season we just make the wrong decisions at the wrong times and I think better creative attacking players make better decisions more or less and if D can get them one two would be amazing and we didn’t have this kind of Doomsday scen iio hanging over us I think we’d be a better attacking side instantly so I don’t know where I don’t know how much of it comes back to him obviously yes some of it will but I think it’s it’s quite conscious I think we’re going to be I mean Jordan pickford’s kept what the second most clean sheets in the league and we finished 15th I mean that shows where our emphasis has been and I just don’t think you can have both with a squad we’ve got um I don’t know yeah no it’s inter I don’t I don’t disagree with his approach whatsoever given the circumstances that we were in I’m thinking more about how we go from here how we improve as a team um and look to sort of make some forward progress rather than just trying to avoid falling through the trapo and I and I just think there is you know we keep hopping back to the to the performance of Brighton I think it was more of an outlier than uh than we than we’d like to admit but it does kind of show that when you know when the when their Tales are up and and the confidence is there and and they’re making the right decisions they can actually look very good going forward and Dwight mcneel in particular and dor I mean you know I wouldn’t I wouldn’t have put my money on on dor scoring that volley for the for the opening goal at Brighton but he did I it was fantastic finish so it is there I just think the the decision making I think a lot of it you can just get from repetition and and then just sort of running those drills and that’s that’s why guardiola’s teams are so good is it’s just endless repetitions around passing and movement and attacking and and you know they’ve obviously got the defensive s side of it down as well because they’re an incredibly difficult team to play against because they just don’t leave you alone so I think there’s there’s work that can be done there but uh yeah that’s that my feeling is just and and we do need we do need more creat creativity in the Midfield that’s for sure I think James Garner is perhaps as close as we get and he’s frustratingly erratic on that score and you know he’s still young and that might come but uh yeah I agree that if we had if we had a transfer budget that’s where I would like us to Focus some of the energy yeah definitely because if you if you look at where we’re strongest we are we are playing too strs look look at our player of the season awards it’s Pigford it’s bran weight right tarkovsky would be in that conversation as well y all of the creative areas are are arguably yeah where if we were you know if we have the kind of game of football manager ahead of us and we like who who you going to sign you would you would buy creative attacking players and you’d probably buy attacking fallbacks who could add another Outlet to that as well and we don’t have any of those things so even though we have a when fit and firing a a very very good certainly for our position in the Premier League Striker who as we mentioned last week could easily um have made the England squad had um had kind of fitness and form prevailed over the course of um this last 12 months um that the ingredients are and and you’re right lynon when they click they do click but we’re dealing with attacking players who aren’t at the level of other sides above us and therefore they’re not as consistent so dor can burn very brightly and he can also do what dor does um so yeah you will see the occasional worldy volley or flowing attacking move and then you’ll also see plenty of the other there um we’ve got players who certainly work hard and don’t sh and again that’s where d i I’ll give him his credit particularly obviously in this running um has got the most from the players on that front I think coaching them to be more consistently creative and attacking would be quite an undertaken um I do think some of them you mentioned Garner um and I guess McNeil falls into that camp as well where he’s young enough where with better players around him um and a bit more freedom and particularly in most games where theonas is on us to attack more then certainly yeah there’s there’s more that can be done um because we have a lot of the ingredients there to be a both a a good direct attacking side and also a good counterattacking side um who can so up with pressure but yeah as as we’ve all kind of ended up coming back to that the way to do that is to bring in better attacking players and that’s going to be the really really tricky issue to address this summer um and and the other one being that where are players are prized in that strength area in that defense um if we lose those players then suddenly that becomes a problem are again as well it’s probably an easier one to fix for a manager like D um yeah but that doesn’t make it any less of a problem if the sadly at some point inevitable happens and Jared branway leaves the club um that position of strength starts to look like a bit of a gaping hole if we’re going well maybe Mason Hall get get he’ll come back from those two lone spells looking like a a new player I wouldn’t hold your breath on talking about um creative midfielders when Adam said that his football career went South quite early I’ve got you down as a creative midfielder Adam yeah um I’ve got a very cultured left foot um oh left you’re a lefty yeah yeah and I didn’t see that coming at all but um yeah left foot had a lot balance um kind of Gareth baresque I’d say in that position um yeah creative moments but um probably at this stage of my career i’ I’d do that water carrier rooll quite nicely and like Ashley Young I would I would pass it straight across uh into areas of danger uh without looking um yeah how about yourself where where do you play on do I know you’re on the sidelines more now but uh I was always uh I always played center or sweeper I did have a a little run in Midfield during my 20s when I when I could run um but yeah I I read the game pretty well um I’m okay technically but yeah it was always the reading of the game um you’ve just described there as well which is nice yeah can’t really think of an Ever player that i’ be like now um but anyway I’ll think of that by the end I mean is there is there a scenario here where Everton sell branway sell somebody else Gomez is off the books deli’s off the books um Andy lonigan’s off the books Andy Lan’s off the books of course um and sha D is able to rebuild partly a more balanced Squad I mean we all see bran weight going as as terrible and it is because he I think he’s the bright is one of the brightest defenders in terms of prospects in the world at the moment um but can we see a scenario where actually they’re able to build a balanced side with Pace with with with a bit of creativity and I know the bran weight money will probably go to the day-to-day running of the club because that’s where we are but I think there’s a lot of money coming off the wage but as well I don’t know I I was thinking today I mean I don’t want to see bran Wick go because I think he’s brilliant but could could it be a way of allowing this more consistently balanced Squad is the only way we’re going to do it now isn’t it by player sales yeah I mean you know they’re going to have to they they’re in the Bargain Basement don’t get me wrong but yeah it is going to be the Bargain Basement it’s going to be the loan Market it’s going to be trying to uh to pick some gems out of the lower leagues I would think maybe some someone from abroad I just yeah I think that I mean no one knows really what’s going to happen with the with with the Takeover I mean we assume at this point that 777 Partners is going to be out the picture and who knows if if anyone is going to step into that breach so it may just be a uh a situation where we just have to kind of limp along for a while and try and try and and and get through the summer in which case you know those player sales will will unfortunately plug the Gap and there may not be anything really for the transfer budget and obviously having those two big wages off is going to help might you know probably less to free up room and more to just sort of close that shortfall I think the stadium aside I think we run at something like3 million pounds a month uh deficit so those obviously the bigger the big the more big wages you can get off the wage Bill the you know the better that is but uh yeah it’s it’s going to be a big job for for Kevin Thell and I just hope that uh OB has a a deep database let’s just say of of players who we can get that won’t well pretty much won’t cost anything you know I mean that’s kind of where we are I saw Ben sorry I was gonna say I saw Ben may had signed a new contract with brenford and that felt very much like a yes a kind of the dce replacement for brenway um and getting the old Burnley gang back together um s sorry any what were we going to say I was only going to say that Adam lukman’s just scored a hattick in the Europa League final Well yeah if you want to look at everon um I mean I’d say failed transfer policy but you could argue that unearthing adamal lutman is the opposite of a failure the problem is that he now plays for Atalanta um that’s when when that many players were coming through the door um some of them at at least with the lman signing and I think you raised his point last time out and around MOA Keen um it’s consistent for most of the younger players that we sign I think even Henry onu uh we made some sort of profit or at least got some more money back Nia vasich should be another one as well um you buy younger you tend to at least recoup what you gambled on and in some cases hopefully you make a lot more um we’ve started to do that with some of the signings that we’ve made recently and obviously when you bring in young player like bran th and it goes really well then you’re talking a huge amount of profit um and that’s without getting into homegrown players as well and but like said bringing through someone like an Anthony Gordon um I think the worry as you said Lindon is that that money it’s it’s not the case of let’s bring in 90 million I’m being ambitious there because we’re sellers who need to sell so whatever value we might Place upon uh jar rwe unless he goes and Beck and Bows his way through the Euros um it’s probably going to be less than we’d like and certainly the amount of that that’s available to fwell whose contract is also up I believe um there’s there’s no guarantee that any of that becomes available that might just go to either well it might be building a new stadium as opposed to building a new Squad um or just papering over the cracks of a a very fractured balance sheet um but yeah I I I think I I I agree though Andy that selling some of the bigger ticket items that we’ve got um if it does lead to an overall stronger side which is kind of what we did this year isn’t it um you you’d maybe say that some of those signings Betto um haven’t completely panned out um in the right way um and he he he’s another I’ve seen linked with um I think the Milan clubs with Betto yeah that was a strange one yeah I they’ve obviously seen something in about donter game but really caught their eye um but I think it we’re going to have to box clever in a way that I I I can’t really remember going into a summer with both um no expectation and also with with a clear and desperate need to address the squad um because yeah because there should be I think Paul made was point in out in our group there should be a lot to look forward to ending a season on that unbeaten run and in the way that we did with that kind of performance it’s a very good foundation it’s kind of what we used to do under Moyes isn’t it little little little steps up the ladder get the solid solid defense in get those older pros and and and gradually add a little bit of quality here and there and then eventually you end up with you know a a very well functioning Squad and this would be a good place to start from but yeah you feel like we’re going to have to rob Peter to pay Paul um with a lot of those deals so who knows what we’ll end up with it feels like Paul’s getting paid quite a lot you think you can shove some ourway that’s there’s going to be plenty to talk about with the uh on the transfer front it’s going to be interesting to see it’s going to be to see what what breaks first uh you know if you listen to Paul thees then he would say that something has to break by the uh the end of June so I suspect that it’s going to be an interesting uh interesting few weeks once we get into June once the uh the sutas for the likes of brth weight start jostling could be it would be it would be so good to keep him for another year and for Onana to be the one that we that we could offload and that would bring in enough but sadly I just don’t think it it would unless unless something interesting happens on the Takeover front but uh as I say we’ve got uh we’ll have plenty of time to talk about that um we’ll we’ll bring we’ll bring the the V soap box out back out again we’re going to talk about that second goal uh it’s an interesting one one with v because the V Stuart Atwell actually got the decision right at least from everon standpoint Andy this is your Arena off you go I mean when I talk about v i I haven’t ever meant to talk about my feelings from an Everton point of view and what it does to Everton I’m talking about what it does to the game of football right yeah so um I think what happened Sunday with that Gabriel Jesus hble because it was a hble um only really strengthens or or or or kind of makes me feel like um it just strengthens my opinion on it because what you’ve got there is a system that’s just simply not fit for purpose the system’s not working however we got to that decision the systems behind it is not working what you would have had if you didn’t have V AR was a referee effectively missing a handall it was I can see how would miss it I could see how you know it’s it’s not one that’s stuck miles his hand not stuck miles up in the air it’s close to his body he’s kind of moved his body and there for his arm kind of towards and around the ball a bit what you’ve got there as a referee that’s not spotted a hand ball and I know it sounds all kind of like high Mighty to say it but or or not even higher Mighty just it sounds very convenient to say it but I’m kind of fine with that um what you’ve then got with v is you’ve got minutes and minutes and minutes while somebody has a look at something then goes yeah I think you got it wrong you go and have a look again then the same bloke that missed it the first time misses it another seven times from different angles at different Paces whatever and then just decides to do what he does anyway so it in effect it kind of it it’s just not it’s just not working um it doesn’t work um and I it didn’t make me feel any differently about V in fact it probably made me feel slightly stronger because it just to the game of football what what does that do it just it means that Arsenal kind of celebrate a goal kind of don’t we then have a hiatus and then we kind of arrive at a decision that’s kind of not once you’ve seen it on the video how on Earth have you then arrived at that decision and it’s just kind of this water now is so muddy that you just think God I wish he I wish the referee was just left alone to make his mistake on his own and then that that’s fine you know every now and again he’ll make a mistake but the process my word you know it only needed somebody’s toenail to be off in the middle or whatever and it would have been your perfect V scenario um yeah still rubbish um and um not showing any signs of perking up yeah it’s it’s almost as if they they heard your R last week and thought how can we engineer a moment that perfectly encapsulates um everything annoying about the system um it was it was it was a ridiculous decision which as I say thankfully apart from us losing a game that we didn’t really deserve to lose um and for all the reasons we said about momentum and and I way to M season Y yada um thankfully didn’t have anything else riding on it otherwise there would be far more outrage than there was um I think the thing that got me Beyond and you mentioned the kind of arrogance of Michael Oliver and it’s one of those rare decisions where they asked to go to a monitor and you’re like yeah he’s going to look at this he’s going to see he’s made the human error as you say Andy and and seen it and in in real time the Heat of the Moment and gone go do you know what actually yeah you’re right and instead um with a great degree of satisfaction he strolls away and does the thing that no one expects him to do which is stick with that decision um the thing that really annoyed me afterwards and I’ve written down a quote just so that we can um pour over it and in detail in the way that VAR does um was uh from a pram called refat on Sky Sports which that in itself annoys me with v the the kind of fetishizing of referees and having someone like der Gallagher there in the same way that Peter Walton used to be there and they’re just these sort of absurd lightning rods for everyone’s annoyance and they’re they’re saying they’re speaking on behalf of the referees and saying exactly what you’d expect them to do as a result and D M Gallagher’s quote was I didn’t think it was humble what I did like is that the referee went to made a decision full stop Michael Oliver deemed the handle not deliberate you might not agree with the decision but you understand the referee has made the decision rather than someone that isn’t at the game so der Gallagher in that summary has essentially advocated for the removal of VAR from the games um it makes no sense whatsoever and it sums up just the opaque nature of this entire process if if derc Gallagher was standing up for his mate and saying I didn’t think it was hul and the referee went and made a decision and V didn’t exist as you say Andy that in itself is absolutely fine it’s something that we dealt with for years watching football it’s human error it happens it’s a very fast-paced game and I think this was a big part of your argument last week and rightly so it it ruins that element of football that makes us fall in love with the sport but it’s fast and it’s not being delayed and as you say celebration aren’t half celebrated and disappointment isn’t felt and then given back and all that sort of confusion that comes as a result of that but when that still exists with v in the room as well and then we’re still pouring over it the next week and you’ve got Steven warock saying to Derm Gallo well I disagree with you and I disagree with your disagreement what a [ __ ] waste of time that is really so I am more than happy to clamber on up and fully support everything you said on it you feel it anyway but as as you say this this is not just an evant thing this is this is not oh and this is the Dreadful Dreadful moment that relegates us or forces us to miss out on European qualification because at the end of the day it was a dead rubber that didn’t really matter too much but so many of these moments have happened over the season I found myself annoyed at decisions that in no way affect Everton football club I’ll see like a a bulm of decision decision or wol decision go why is that even a thing and it really something does need to change I I I do agree with wolves on M what that will be I don’t know um but surely we we can’t be in a situation like that next season where again we’ve got some people advocating for stockley park being in complete control and then you’ve got Derm Gallagher coming out and saying quite the opposite so a mess and absolute mess it was that nice Nexus between the uh the frustrations with the technology the incompetence the officials the the muddy because muddy is the word the the muddy situation around handball you know the the everchanging rules on handball when I when I first uh tweeted in Anger about this it was based on the previous iteration which is you know if anyone in the attacking move hand balls it no matter how got to hit his hand it’s it’s it’s it’s a it’s a foul and I suppose they’ve changed that now to the goal scorer uh if it hits the goal scorer in any way shape or form on the hand regardless of intent or position of the arm then it’s hand ball which I mean I have I have issues with to begin with but I’m not going to get into those um you know in this instance this if you’re going to have the V system this is how it should work in that the referee’s missed something the V says I think you’ve missed something here you should go check it out on the monitor which really doesn’t happen often enough then the ref goes to the Monitor and in this instance should have and I’ve you know I always talk about the spirit of the law the handball law was brought in to prevent a player from gaining an advantage by the use of his hand or the use of his arm he clearly gains an advantage by the use of his arm in this instance you know and there was enough um gray area there around the the movement of his his body and his arm as you described Andy towards the ball to say you know what yes he’s gained an advantage they’ve scored a winning goal out of this it’s late in the game it’s probably going to be the deciding goal maybe we should her on the on the on the side of the spirit of the law that says he’s gain Advantage let’s chalk it off but of course Michael Oliver being the ego that he has that he is has obviously upheld his original decision I think I read I forget was it the athletic or somewhere that that no it was ESPN Dale Johnson on ESPN is if you don’t follow him on Twitter he’s a really good follower because he is he is anal to the degree about just sticking to the law you know people shout at him and he gets so much abuse but he he just stands his ground and he goes with the letter of the law and he um did these stats where I think Michael Oliver it’s only the second time this season that the ref’s gone to the Monitor and actually upell the original decision because you as you said Adam when they go over to the monitor you think okay they’re going to reverse the decision now because there there is some there’s something in the way that V Works in that to overrule the person in stockley park is a bit of a no no or you’ll actually get marked down for it because they’re the ones with the technology and you should bow of their you know the technology they have at their disposal which is why so often they go to the Monitor and you know they uh they uphold the decision of the V and apparently Michael Oliver’s only done it twice this season and this was the second time and of course it’s against us because he hates us but for whatever reason maybe because maybe because he’s a Newcastle fan I don’t know but uh yeah it’s uh yeah we could talk we talked about V at length last week we could talk about it forever uh I just think that you’ve got a situation where referees made an error and as you said Andy that’s just the way it used to be and I think sometimes you just got to accept that you know and that that should have been how it was he made the error on on on the day and yes Everton would have come off the worse but the fact that as you said it’s gone through the the whole V process and we’ve still got the same ridiculous decision it rather makes a mockery of the whole thing I like how we’re gradually working through every single squar word though on the B soap box that’s something that pleases me I’m ticking them off as we go maybe next week we’ll have another one okay well it does bring out the you know it does bring out those reactions doesn’t it like a few things in the game do yeah and like I said this isn’t about what it does you know people might be thinking oh yeah but it could have worked out in Everton’s favor yeah but it doesn’t work out in the I mean doesn’t work out in the game of football’s favor does it it just doesn’t I mean we we ended up with a kind of a kind of a a frustrating moment for Everton a disappointing moment for Everton a kind of a half celebrated goal for Arsenal you know the moment of the game you’ve just won it you know from their point of view they just I know it doesn’t mean much to them either now but they’ve just won game in the 90 odd minute 90th minute and yet you don’t get that feeling um yeah it’s crap it is yeah and we’ve said about those those moments of drama being SP but there’s enough drama in football there’s lots of it it doesn’t really need another it’s it’s like when I don’t know old cartoons it’s like oh you know Scooby-Doo is not interested enough let’s throw his wacky cousin Scrappy into the mix just to liveen things that’s what VAR is it’s this annoying yappy little thing that comes and spoils the party and ruins the dynamic it it does generate all that a and that rage we’re doing it right now adding some fuel onto that roaring fire but it’s that’s that’s in in that sense it’s fulfilling it its purpose it’s generating content it’s it’s created ref watch with dermit gallaga that’s that’s the end product of it um um some people will like that some people will like having something else to talk about in the same way that we have transfer gurus and all these other elements of football that didn’t really exist before and and and part of that you have to go with the changes but with this one in particular it it feels as though what could be a very very good thing at the base level of stopping a deliberate hand ball as you say Lon it’s one of it’s one of the kind of iconic things of football be it I don’t know en re’s moment against Ireland or maradon goal against England HBL have a the Suarez HBL have like a kind of a thing about them because it it totally defies the logic of a game but as you said it’s already a blurry law to implement as it is when you throw in the chaos of V to that then that it it it should be helping with those decisions and and in this case as with many others as you as you say Andy not just an event thing as a case with many others where we’re reeling Back Time over the course of an entire game to to to pull decisions back to work out where the Genesis of a mistake happened so that we can then disallow the goal and steal the moment and create some drama where there already was some it’s it’s broken isn’t it yes thank you enough said you’re listening to the tofy web podcast he let’s finish off with the player of the Season goal of the Season performance of the season it’s award season the uh Everton official account has been uh tweeting out what the players and the club feel uh should be the winners in that category but uh let’s pick our own I think some of them are fairly obvious but uh Andy you want do you want to pick up who’s your player of the season so this was obviously won by Jared brane in real life wasn’t it the players player was jar brane the uh player of the Season that voted by the fans was Jordan pford okay you know in passing let’s mention James tarosky here because I think he had he’s had a a very positive season and he is our you know stalwart at the back really um with without him there I don’t think Jared brwi has good a SE as good a season I really don’t it’s um correct yeah you know you know whatever Journey Jared branck goes on from from this point I think having a a whole season alongside tarosky in the Premier League is going to stand him in very good stead um I I think tar kovski has played every match since he joined every Premier League match since he joined us and we were saying weren’t we mag when he when he did join we was we were saying oh he’s got we all touched wood he’s got a great injury record and that he does play a lot of games and and you know wow he you know he he he um he’s so reliable I think I am going to have to go with Jared brthe as my player of the season um and there’s there’s probably a little bit of kind of new player if you want to call him that kind of a new player bias to that in that he has given the whole team and especially the back line just something different it’s something different to look at it’s something different to admire it’s uh he’s got everything uh and he’s proved that he’s got Pace he’s got balance he’s pretty good on the ball he he reads the game very well he’s you know he he times The Tackle especially a slide tackle which he loves very well he’s become very good positionally which again is probably a bit of taros running rubbing off on him um he’s got an eye for goal he he’s he’s he’s proved everything this year that we hoped he would um and I think uh I think we all know what Jordan pford is and what he does and what he can do and and for the last three seasons it’s not an exaggeration to say that if Jordan pford wasn’t our goalkeeper I’m pretty sure we would have been relegated um and that’s that’s you know that’s High Praise he’s he’s he’s excellent but I just think just kind of there’s almost a kind of um a young player novelty value about Jared branway as well this season um I’ve really really enjoyed watching him and if we’re going to go on stuff we enjoy watching um it’s him for me I think it’s it’s quite hard to disagree with that um young player novelty um could be Ashley Young um he’s not my player of a season um nor is Neil mop with his two early appearances um who I’m really looking forward to welcom him back good to some part next season I’m sure he’s chomping up a bit to return um yeah there’s there’s a few of her honorable mentions I think um as as you say tarkovski statistically um one of the best performing defenders in the division and I think when you look at that being a quite a problem position uh for the national side and you see the likes of Ls dunk making the England squad for the euros and the young kid at Liverpool who remains very unproven I think James tarkovski Goes Under The Radar a lot and he probably would have been hire in the running thir player of the year were it not for maybe a couple of games where he’s a little off color um whereas branway and Pigford in particular were incredibly consistent as the season went on and branway as you say Andy Just For Youth and sheer quality seeing a seeing a player in an everon Shire in in a side you said it B with toosi playing every Premier League game since he joined I feel like these two seasons in the same way that like dog years or seven years James tarkovi has basically had a testimonial spell at Everton in those two years um it’s a hell of a SLO so fair play for that but but the fact that bran we has walked into that defense and at no point has he looked like being budged from it and that’s that’s not just down to a lack of competition because although those other center backs have got their um they’re kind of cons and I guess they’re detractors Michael Keane is a far more experienced player who has played under D before Ben Godfrey has been in that side under D um we’ve got options there and at no point has bran weight look like dropping out of being one of if not the first name on the team Sheet um so in an Ideal World I would love to see him um reclaim uh his players player crown and probably uh overall men’s player of the Season uh award next season um it doesn’t feel likely but um and one last person to mention as well in the runin adris gay I think has been an absolutely vital part of the side obviously some crucial goals um as I mentioned before his new contract I think that’s one really really good piece of business um that has been uh gotten over the line ahead of the next season so again that there are positives there but Bram weight really in in so many ways this season just stands out like a sore thumb yeah I agree he’s my pick just purely for the just purely for his age you know to come in as you say to come into to the side you know Dy obviously withheld him from the first couple of games but once he got in there there was there was just no looking back I think he’s been absolutely uh magnificent you know he’s had a couple of wobbles I don’t think he actually had the greatest game against Arsenal uh last Sunday but uh you know he’s been he is yeah he’s it’s just the kind of player that you really want to build a side around and obviously in in other circumstances we might do that but unfortunately as you said Adam it’s uh it is not looking likely uh goal of the season I’ve got I’ve got three on my short list I got Harrison against Bournemouth Andre gom’s free kick against Palace in the cup and Bran’s goal at Brighton those are the three that the stand out for me the one that the uh the official site gave went what Everton went with was Dominick Cal leen’s goal against Liverpool the second goal or what say you Andy uh I’m going to go with something a little bit different on this one um just because again it was it was just a moment of enjoyment and and actually one of the few times this season when I could actually sit back and kind of celebrate a goal but know that nothing bad is going to happen um and it’s it’s Betos against Newcastle at goodison um yeah it was a brilliant move I don’t know how many we we we totted it up in the end didn’t we um how many passes it was but um great move um incisive pass and a really direct bit of striking bit of forward Play Good finish um and you know the I remember the the go that night I mean McNeil’s was just a massive relief the first one um but that one was just more of a kind of just to sit back and smile it was just it was just a lovely lovely goal and really well taken really well put together um and uh it gets my goal of the Season mine’s probably uh Dominic car LS against Burnley no I’m joking Dreadful goal um I think the sentimental version of this I I I I probably do go with the club’s decision of uh Dom’s headed just purely for the fact that that one is now absolutely rubber stamped in my head and I won’t forget it whereas it’s it’s not necessarily been a vintage season for goals I’d say um the ones mentioned that a good and maybe in other Seasons they go a little bit more under the radar um although bran f is a goal of real quality quity I guess the other one that um is objectively a very good goal but also um kind of tying him to your Fe Andy of a sort of sense of release and relief would probably be um McNeil’s goal against Forest um just because it felt so important and also it’s a moment of real quality so I’d lean towards that one but Dom’s head has so much meaning behind it and already feels quite iconic so yeah get I get going with that decision yeah I think that’s why the club went with that one I think just from a pure technique I’d probably go with Andre Gomez just you know it’s one of those free kicks that starts outside the post and bends back in magnificent strike and uh you know Harrison’s was was pretty good instinctive strike against Bournemouth as well but yeah not not that many really to choose from as you say wasn’t really a vantage season for goals I mean we didn’t score that many those that many goals to begin with so uh a small small sample smaller than usual sample size uh perform of the season I think this one’s pretty much nailed on really the Derby I thought you’re going to go for the uh no I’m going to make a joke then but I’m not going to though I could have picked so many games to make a joke of them but I’m not going to uh um uh yeah the the home Derby was about like we said at the time um everything you would want in an Everton performance so you can’t really look much further than that um we were absolutely brilliant that night absolutely brilliant um I mean other honorable mentions um I think we played well in the home game against Chelsea I thought we played quite well that day um where else did we play well we we were we were good against Bournemouth at home um Newcastle home Newcastle home yeah good one um but no I I I I really don’t think you can look far beyond the um the Derby home game so it’s got It’s just got to be that yeah yeah it it feels obvious doesn’t it um a lot of the other good performances again if similar to the goals really um there wasn’t that sort of moment of um we’re going to mention it again because we always do that performance away at Brighton where everything’s seems to click into place and it all goes right there wasn’t really a lot of that it was often quite hard thought um which for Derby was as well but it felt like things did click a bit into into place it felt special um in a game where that so it just hasn’t been the case has it and and often it’s it’s felt like the chips have already been uh against us so yeah it’s got to be that for so many reasons yeah once Dom Scot use that irritating word that they use with in connection with um Harland it’s that it was felt inevitable at that point you know once we were 2-0 up it just didn’t seem like we were going to lose the only other one that I would uh that I put as a as an honorable mention was the the uh League Cup performance at Aston Villa which Not only was a great performance but it was the first time that vill had been beaten at home in God knows how many uh matches and we actually you know we played them off their own Park that night so that was a uh another honorable mention but uh yeah that’ll do it for our final official pod of the Season proper we will of course be back at various times over the course of the summer to discuss the uh next twists in the Takeover Saga transer news and we’ll no doubt chat about Euro 2024 when that rolls around but until next time blues whenever that is all the best and up the toies night I’m made for dreaming some night I’m made for dreaming some night for dreaming some night for dreaming night for dreaming night for dreaming [Applause]

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