Stubbs Fumes At Penalty Calls

U21s boss unhappy with key decisions in Arsenal defeat.

Alan Stubbs was extremely unhappy that two key decisions went against Everton's Under-21s on Monday night.

Stubbs, boss of the Blues' U21 outfit, was left fuming that a pair of penalty decisions went the way of Arsenal in the Gunners' 3-0 win.

The scoreline flattered Arsenal anyway, but it could have been a different game entirely.

"The scoreline doesn't reflect the game," Stubbs told evertonfc.com afterwards.

Everton's Tyias Browning was adjudged to have fouled Jernade Meade just before half time and then in the second half, with the score still 1-0, Hallam Hope was denied a spot-kick when he was felled in the box.

Stubbs was visibly angered by both incidents and his frustration was vindicated by post-match replays. A third penalty - one which Arsenal's Sanchez Watt converted to make it 2-0 - was correctly awarded.

"The third one is a penalty, the first one wasn't and the second one should have been," continued the formed Everton centre half.

"It's difficult not to criticise the referee, but in order to improve the league, I think they have to improve the refereeing as well.

"There were two major decisions in the game and he got both of them wrong, which had a huge effect on the game."

Those decisions aside, Stubbs was able to focus on some positives, as well as highlighting areas to work on.

"The performance was better," he said. "I thought we had a better shape to our team. Even though I am pleased by that, we have still conceded three goals which are individual mistakes, which can't happen.

"You can't fault their effort - that is something we don't even question because we know that is always there. It is disappointing when they see a their effort thrown out the window because of poor decisions. We have to dust ourselves down and go again. There were better signs today, the lads at the back did really well, we defended well and the scoreline doesn't reflect that."