Everton’s Kevin Mirallas strikes to dash 10-man Burnley’s survival bid
Everton 1 - 0 Burnley
Kevin Mirallas scores for Everton against Burnley in the Premier League match at Goodison ParkForm and fortune have deserted Burnley alike. Chaos and controversy ruled instead here. The Clarets’ most distinguished fan, Jimmy Anderson, tops the list of England’s Test wicket-takers, but, for the first time since November, his club prop up the Premier League.
A defining day could have ended with them as high as 16th. Instead, Burnley’s momentum is downward and threatens to drag them into the Championship. They were condemned to an eighth defeat in 12 games by Kevin Mirallas, who ought to have been dismissed afterwards, on an afternoon when a penalty was wrongly awarded against them and squandered in bemusing fashion.
If Burnley are not receiving official assistance, nor did they help themselves. Ashley Barnes was rightly shown the red card and David Jones was mistake-prone. Brains seemed scrambled as erratic decision-making was not confined to the lamentable referee, Mike Jones. Even the victors were affected, in strangely familiar fashion.
This marked the second episode of the Goodison Park penalty mystery. Everton possess one of the division’s outstanding finishers from 12 yards. Leighton Baines boasts a 94% success rate from the penalty spot in the Premier League. Yet Mirallas commandeered a penalty he ought to have taken against West Brom and missed. Now, Ross Barkley staged a repeat, albeit without the same sense of insurrection.
“Ross showed incredible responsibility,” said the Everton manager, Roberto Martínez, who, in a confusing, contradictory analysis, described Baines as a “specialist” and agreed with the suggestion he was the club’s best penalty taker, only to state the substitute Romelu Lukaku would have been his preferred candidate.
“There is no such thing as a best penalty taker,” he said, failing to clarify matters. “I don’t agree with penalty takers being a designated one apart from Romelu.”
What can be said with certainty is that it amounted to a match to forget for the different Joneses. Burnley’s midfielder David coughed up possession, attempted to make amends and fouled the faster Aaron Lennon. The referee Mike pointed to the spot, even though the challenge was outside the 18-yard area. Up stepped Barkley and Tom Heaton produced an outstanding save.
Mike Jones compounded his earlier error by ignoring penalty appeals when Danny Ings crashed into Séamus Coleman. David Jones’s shooting proved as ill-judged as his tackling as he blazed over the bar. Ings’s late header also had too much elevation so Burnley’s goal drought has now extended to 389 minutes.
“There has never been a lack of belief, a lack of organisation or a lack of energy,” said the Burnley manager, Sean Dyche. “It has been the cutting edge and the details of the game.”
The crucial detail, the scoreline, was determined by Mirallas. Few wide players can rival his goalscoring record and when James McCarthy crossed he skipped past a sliding Kieran Trippier to slide his shot past Heaton.
There ought to have been a second. Arouna Koné diverted Baines’s cross on to the post with a flick and McCarthy marred an otherwise excellent performance by sidefooting wide when Lennon centred.
Meanwhile, the scorer turned sinner by planting his studs into George Boyd’s shin. Jones only cautioned Mirallas. “It is just a normal action,” said Martínez, defying credibility again. “It is not malicious from Kevin, just a typical striker’s challenge.”
Dyche predictably disagreed. “It is high and late,” he said. “It is impossible he stays on the football pitch.”
Yet Mirallas did, while Barnes had already departed. Booked for a challenge on McCarthy, he then upended Coleman. He has been the Premier League’s most prolific fouler this season and a 66th offence brought Burnley’s first dismissal. “They are just silly challenges,” said Dyche. “There is no malice.”
Guardian
