Everton vs Manchester City could hardly have ended in more controversial circumstances.Frank Lampard's men seemed destined to suffer a gut-wrenching defeat at Goodison Park when 82 minutes of steely resistance was ended by Phil Foden making the most of a defensive mix up.However, Everton appeared to have a route back into the game when they launched a strong penalty appeal against Rodri, who looked to have handled the ball, just a few minutes later.

Rodri 'handball' incident

A last-gasp penalty would have given the Toffees a well-deserved shot at equalising, which, in turn, could have blown the Premier League title race wide open as their Merseyside neighbours close in.

Nevertheless, despite Rodri's arm seemingly making contact with the ball in an unnatural position, both the on-field officials and VAR decided that a penalty could not be given. Cue the outrage.

While the handball rule can be equally infuriating and subjective at the best of times, anyone on Twitter when the Rodri incident transpired can vouch for just how angrily this particular episode was received.

Why wasn't a penalty given?

In the end, though, the word from the Premier League seemed to be that VAR saw insufficient evidence that Rodri made contact in the area eligible for handball in order to override the original decision.

That being said, Chris Williams later reported that the Premier League Match Centre conceded upon further reviews after the game that it looked as though the incident was indeed worthy of a penalty.

But regardless of the exact rationale behind the decision, we can all agree that there were grounds on which anyone associated with Everton could be understandably angry with how the episode played out.

Everton 0-1 Man City Match Reaction (Football Terrace)

Lampard makes his feelings very clear

So, it should come as no surprise at all that Lampard himself was suitably bewildered that his side weren't awarded a penalty when he was asked about the Rodri drama during his post-match interviews.

And while the Chelsea legend could easily have either lost his temper or refused to comment, he instead produced a fascinatingly articulate, passionate and transparent interview summing up his feelings.

In fact, regardless of the whole handball controversy, it was simply one of the most refreshingly honest interviews that we've seen from a Premier League boss all season, so be sure to check it out down below:

Fair play, Frank, fair play.

Fan reaction

Fans were very positive about Lampard's post-match interview

Everton's Lampard gave a reasoned response to the Rodri incident.

One fan thought that Lampard was holding back with his answers.

Many fans were praising Lampard's well-reasoned interview.

Many fans were in agreement about Lampard on the Rodri incident.

Many fans thought that Lampard was saying it how it is.

One fan praised Lampard for potentially risking a fine.

A well-reasoned response

You could tell that Lampard nearly lost his composure a little bit with the daughter comment, but then beautifully reined it back in with some very well-reasoned questioning and debating.

It couldn't have been any clearer that the 43-year-old genuinely wanted answers about how the VAR process had been conducted as opposed to simply being bitter that Everton didn't get things there way.

From asking whether or not Richarlison had been offside to struggling to compute Chris Kavanagh's thought process, Lampard felt legitimately and understandably as though his side had been unlucky.

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All that being said, however, there is no post-match interview or Twitter revelation that can change the fact that Everton never won a penalty and Manchester City emerged 1-0 victors.

And it's a fact that could have massive ramifications for the title race and relegation scrap come the end of the season.