Everton boss Moyes bemoans Premier League officiating

Everton boss David Moyes has slammed the string of poor refereeing decisions that have robbed his side of points this year, but sympathizes with the tough task facing  Premier League referees.

The Scottish manager cited games against Reading, Wigan and Newcastle in which his side has been on the wrong end of bad decisions, and urged assistants to offer more support.

“Being a referee nowadays comes with a much higher profile and it is also a much more challenging job,” Moyes told reporters. “The cameras and the technology now allow us to analyze every decision and for anyone who has never refereed a game I can tell you that it is very difficult as I do it most days in training.

“However, here comes a ‘but’ from me. What we've had in recent games, starting at Reading a few weeks ago, are decisions that have cost us points. “I will always be the first person to look at the players to finish better or to defend better and not rely on decisions, but as you can see on a regular basis at the moment decisions are affecting the outcome of the games.”

The Toffees boss was particularly critical of the refereeing assistants, and felt they'd deprived Everton of points against Newcastle and Wigan.

In a 2-2 draw against the Magpies, the linesmen failed to spot that Victor Anichebe's header had crossed the line while a Marouane Fellaini strike was wrongly ruled out for offside.

“Some of the decisions that have gone against us have been made by the assistants – Newcastle and Wigan for example,” Moyes continued. “I do feel that the referees are not being supported by their assistants and are, on occasions, being let down by them.

“I will continue to try and support the Professional Game Match Officials (PGMO) but they must work to improve their standards throughout the game.”