I’m not saying it applies, here, but there also is a psychological aspect to chess annotations. Annotators may mark a move as good even if they think or even know better moves against optimal play exist. It isn’t fair to expect human chess players to play optimally.

For example, Mikhail Tal’s made multiple sacrifices that won him games even today get a ! annotation from reviewers, even though they aren’t optimal (https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/how-should-one-go-a...)