Frank Lampard fumes at VAR over hair-pull in Coventry's loss at Everton

Lampard felt Coventry should have had two penalties and an Everton goal disallowed, citing a hair-pull on Yirenkyi and a challenge on Awoniyi that VAR missed.

Coventry manager Frank Lampard expressed frustration with VAR decisions after his side's 3-1 defeat at Everton. Lampard believed the Sky Blues should have been awarded two penalties: one for James Tarkowski pulling Caleb Yirenkyi's hair during a first-half challenge for a cross, and another for Vitalii Mykolenko's tackle on Taiwo Awoniyi, which he felt occurred on or inside the penalty area despite VAR's marginal ruling. He also questioned why Thierno Barry's second goal, which Lampard claimed was a handball, was allowed to stand after a VAR check.

Lampard acknowledged the rule change this season that downgraded hair-pulling from a red card in most circumstances, but argued that if officials deemed it a foul, it should have been penalised. "If they say it's a hair pull, it's a hair pull," he said. Everton boss David Moyes disagreed with all three of Lampard's contentions. Barry scored twice for Everton, with Yann Gboho netting Coventry's only goal and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall adding a third late on.