Liverpool Women manager Matt Beard has suggested referees may have a personal agenda against him after his side’s controversial Women’s Super League (WSL) defeat to Everton.
Beard was furious after his side were beaten at Goodison Park by Katja Snoeijs’s spot-kick, awarded by referee Abigail Byrne after Fuka Nagano clipped Honoka Hayashi.
Replays showed the foul occurred outside the area but the WSL does not use video reviews. Snoeijs’s goal gave Everton their first win of the WSL season and extended Beard’s winless league run against the club to eight league matches.
“I don’t know whether they [the officials] don’t like me personally, I don’t know, and whether that has an effect on my team,” Beard told reporters after the game. “It could do. I’ve been booked for things this year when I’ve seen other managers do a lot worse and get away with it.
“It (the penalty decision) cost us the game today. You’ve got the official, the assistant referee and the fourth official all with unblocked views. Even I saw the contact was about a yard outside the box.
“I just give up with it because it happens every week. Not just with us. Look at the start of the game. The first throw in should have been an Everton throw, but we get given it.
“I feel we should have had two penalties. Olivia Smith was brought down in the box. Ceri Holland brought down in the box. Ultimately those decisions have cost us either a point or potentially three points today.”
PGMOL, the body which oversees refereeing in the WSL, has been contacted for comment by The Athletic.
Liverpool have bemoaned officiating decisions in two of their three previous league meetings with Everton. Yana Daniels’ goal was controversially disallowed in a 1-1 draw in March 2023 while Missy Bo Kearns’ goal was also disallowed due to a foul in the build-up in Liverpool 1-0 loss in October 2023.
Asked whether he would welcome VAR into the league, Beard said: “The money is not there. We need to get the officials right. I think every manager feels the same every week.
“If you go over the course of this season, foul throws have been allowed. They come out and tell us they’re going to implement rules and they don’t implement the rules.”
Beard said he would not be putting a complaint to PGMOL, stating: “[Byrne] is going to have to own up to her mistake today. It’s on TV. It’s being talked about. But nine times out of 10, you put a report in and the decisions are justified. There’s no point in putting them in.”
Sunday’s result leaves Beard’s side with just two wins from eight WSL matches with Liverpool sixth in the WSL table, 12 off leaders Chelsea. They face Manchester United in the WSL after the international break.
(Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
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