Distin Calls For Consistency

Decisions on penalty area need consistency, says Distin.

Sylvain Distin believes decisions relating to contact in the penalty area need to be more consistent.

During Everton's game against Stoke on Saturday there were numerous incidents of players holding and grabbing inside the penalty area as free-kicks and corners were being delivered.

In contrast, Marouane Fellaini was penalised against Manchester City two weeks ago when he made minimal contact with Edin Dzeko, with a decisive spot-kick ensuing.

After the 1-1 draw at the Britannia Stadium, Fellaini issued an apology following an incident with Ryan Shawcross which stemmed from the hosts' defensive techniques.

Distin told evertontv: "It's wrestling, it was tough. It was difficult to run through, they just catch you all the time and grab you. I think the ref could have a better look at it. But that is football and it's going to happen when you come to a place like Stoke.

"There is just no consistency. That is the problem as a player. Sometimes you get grabbed or blocked and it is not a penalty. Then you see what happened against City when the ref gave them a penalty, you think 'there should be a penalty every week'.

"There is no consistency so it's bit frustrating when it's not going your way."

Stoke have an impressive home record this term and Distin accepted that a single point was a satisfactory outcome from the match itself.

He added: "We didn't play really well, but fair play to Stoke, they tried to frustrate us and they did well.

"We expected to play a little bit better and maybe come away with the three points but it was a good result."