Garth Crooks rages at Everton manager Marco Silva for confronting referee Lee Mason after defeat to Newcastle United

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Everton suffered a damaging defeat to Newcastle United in the Premier League on Saturday.

BBC pundit Garth Crooks has raged at Everton’s Marco Silva for the manner in which he confronted referee Lee Mason after his side’s 3-2 defeat to Newcastle United on Saturday at St James’ Park.

The Toffees were leading the game 2-0 before the home team staged a miraculous fightback to score three goals in the final 25 minutes and with it clinch all the points.

There were a number of talking points in the game, including the decision not to send off goalkeeper Jordan Pickford after he fouled Soloman Rondon in the penalty area and Ayoze Perez’s winning goal, which the away team felt was offside.

Speaking to Final Score on BBC One (09/03/2019 at 4:50 pm), Crooks didn’t hold back in his criticism of Silva as he felt that there is ‘something happening’ in regards to the behaviour towards match officials after the whistle full-time whistle blows.

“There is something happening with the behaviour of referees that I do not like,” Crooks told Final Score. “We have values in the game and when you have managers going on the field and harassing referees like that it doesn’t bode well for the game. The League Managers Association ought to get up to their members and sort this out!”

There is no doubt that Silva will be feeling the heat in the Goodison Park dugout as he has come under pressure on a number of occasions for his team’s performances and results.

In the game against the Magpies, they went 2-0 up in the first half, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison getting on the scoreline, goals which were sandwiched between Pickford’s penalty save.

The defeat pushed Silva’s side outside of the Premier League’s top 10, seven points behind seventh-placed Wolves and four points behind 15th-placed Brighton.

The games don’t get any easier for the Merseyside club because they host Champions League chasers Chelsea on home soil next Sunday before taking on West Ham at the London Stadium after the international break.