‘Sounds mad’ - Sean Dyche reveals Ashley Young’s reaction to Everton red card vs Liverpool

Sean Dyche admitted that ‘wily old fox’ Ashley Young knew he was set for his marching orders when he brought down Luis Diaz for a second time in Everton’s Merseyside derby loss to Liverpool.

But the Toffees boss was ‘baffled’ why Young received two yellow cards yet Ibrahima Konate stayed on the pitch for the Reds.

Everton’s 2-0 defeat by their fierce rivals at Anfield, although the 243rd encounter between the two teams was riddled with contentious refereeing decisions. Young was cautioned in the 18th minute when he brought down Diaz. Then on 37 minutes, the former England international’s afternoon came to an end after he mistimed his sliding challenge on Diaz outside the box.

In the second half, however, Konate was lucky to not be given his marching orders. Already in referee Craig Pawson’s book, the Liverpool centre-back hauled down the breaking Beto. The France international went unpunished and was substituted swiftly after as Jurgen Klopp even thought his player was fortunate.

Speaking at his post-match press conference, Dyche said: “He’s a wily old fox, Youngy. The first one, he feels he tried to pull out, the lad throws his leg at him but that happens. We all know that happens, no-one likes it but that happens.

“In a game like this, I know it sounds mad because you should stick to consistency, it’s a derby and all that and certain things there should be a bit more leeway, I’m not sure it needed to be a booking but it was. The second is a booking, that’s it, end of story.

“He’s certainly wise enough to know that second challenge, he doesn’t need to make that challenge but there’s no real blame on it. He’s a defender, you’ve got to make challenges you see fit and he was actually excellent until that point, I thought. Some of the decisions that were bookings and Konate’s is not is baffling.”