Everton have had little time to lick their wounds before once again getting on the road, having to travel from the south coast to the northeast in order to play their next match.
Brushed aside by AFC Bournemouth in frustratingly tepid fashion last time out, the Toffees put up little resistance, with their only goal of the game hardly well-manufactured.
So, the expectation would be that the same will occur tomorrow night, against a far better Newcastle United side likely buoyed by their comeback win last time out.
Meanwhile, Everton and Sean Dyche will still be furious with one flashpoint in that aforementioned 2-1 loss to the Cherries.
Sky Sports pundits left disappointed with VAR decision
Despite there being three goals, the match’s headlines were unsurprisingly dominated by yet another controversial refereeing moment in the second half.
As neither side really flexed their offensive muscles, it was going to take a moment of fortune or brilliance to separate the two.
And when Dominic Calvert-Lewin seemed to have conjured the latter as he skipped past Tyler Adams in the box, the former was frustratingly absent.
No penalty where there was blatant contact, and former referee Dermot Gallagher would tell Sky Sports: ‘If the referee gives a penalty there can’t be too many complaints. All I think is the referee thinks Calvert-Lewin trips himself but he does get kicked first. He would feed that back to the VAR. Is there enough contact? The thresholds… the vagary of VAR.’
His characteristically ‘on the fence’ attitude should surprise nobody, but Stephen Warnock was far more certain: ‘This is clearly a foul and they’ve obviously got it wrong. That’s a poor decision for me.’
Sue Smith would agree: ‘VAR need to say you need to have another look at that. Calvert-Lewin isn’t going to go down if he’s not fouled because he has a clear shot at goal.’
Everton Fan Board also left ‘baffled’ by Howard Webb
It is quite ironic that this controversial moment has occurred around the same time as Howard Webb’s response to the Fan Forum.
Having penned a letter to the chief refereeing officer of the PGMOL outlining a number of outstanding mistakes made against them this season, the response was rather vague and unhelpful.
In fact, having since spoken out, their chairman even suggested he made one comment which left him particularly ‘baffled’.
Everybody is hopelessly in the dark when it comes to the ever-depreciating standard of officiating, and such useless nonsense in response to real match-going fans only creates further division.
They simply need to start doing their jobs properly, and in doing so would no longer be the focus of all attention.