(Credit: Imago)

Evan Shaw

Sun 17 May 2026 16:56, UK

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Everton endured another frustrating afternoon as they were beaten 3-1 at home by Sunderland on Sunday.

David Moyes’ men remain in the hunt for a European place, but were unable to make their home advantage count against the Black Cats, as they made it seven games without a win in the Premier League.

Merlin Rohl’s deflected strike saw the Toffees hit the front on the stroke of half-time, before Brian Brobbey punished an error from the hosts to lash home an equaliser just before the hour mark.

The Merseysiders pushed for a winner in the latter stages at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, but the goals came at the other end, as Enzo Le Fee put them ahead in the 81st minute, before Wilson Isidor added a third in stoppage time.

Everton’s latest defeat was packed full of action, and with that in mind, Football Insider picks out three errors from referee John Brooks.

Tim Iroegbunam lucky to stay on the pitch

Tim Iroegbunam provided the major moment of controversy in the game, when he barrelled into Reinildo with 25 minutes on the clock.

The Everton midfielder took a heavy touch in the middle of the park and lunged into a challenge on the Sunderland left-back, while running at full speed.

Brooks was quick to brandish a yellow card to the 22-year-old, before a brief VAR review also decided that the tackle was not worthy of being upgraded to a red.

However, replays suggested that Iroegbunam could easily have been deemed to be out of control when he made the tackle, while it could also have fallen into the category of a reckless challenge.

The fact that the Toffees star kept his leading foot low and didn’t plant his studs into Reinildo probably saved him from an early bath, despite the best attempts of several Sunderland players, who quickly surrounded Brooks, calling for a red card.

It was far from a glaring error from the man in the middle, but Iroegbunam could certainly have counted himself lucky to stay on the pitch.

Jake O’Brien booking incredibly harsh

Jake O’Brien has done a steady job for Everton as he has filled in at right-back for large parts of the season, and his error led to Brobbey dragging the hosts onto level terms.

The Irishman was left walking a tightrope for the entire second half, after he was shown a yellow card for dragging down Nilson Angulo in the 47th minute.

The pair became locked in a tussle on the visitors’ left wing, with Angulo trying to burst beyond his marker and angle his run in towards goal.

O’Brien eventually hauled the Ecuador international down, and was shown a yellow by Brooks for preventing the attacker from getting closer to goal.

However, that was undoubtedly a call that the official got wrong, as Angulo was almost off the pitch when the foul came, and it could not have been deemed to be preventing a counter-attack.

It was also O’Brien’s first foul of the afternoon, meaning it was an extremely harsh decision for Brooks to caution him.

James Garner falls victim to Brian Brobbey tricks

James Garner was excellent for Everton again on Sunday, but he was subject to a moment of naivety when up against Brian Brobbey in the 67th minute.

The Sunderland frontman backed into the Everton star on the halfway line before hitting the deck, and Brooks blew for a free-kick to the visitors, which relieved a significant build-up of pressure that Everton had created.

Brooks thought that Garner had pulled Brobbey back as the forward fell on top of his marker, but in reality, he appeared to fall for a trick that the Dutchman has been pulling off all season.

Brobbey continually backed into his man before hitting the deck in a way that made it look like he wasn’t responsible for the incident, and this ploy was bought completely by Brooks, who should never have awarded a free-kick.