Anthony Taylor deserves praise for his refereeing of Liverpool’s win over Man City, not abuse

Oh to be a referee.

Anthony Taylor, on the one hand considered by Uefa and Fifa as one of the world’s leading officials who has handled major cup finals, on the other considered by a swathe of people on social media as unfit to officiate another Premier League game after his performance in Liverpool’s win against Manchester City.

You can’t please everyone, yet barely can there be a profession so polarising as that of the English referee.

Taylor, 43, is one of two English refs selected (from six officials in total) to officiate during the 2022 Qatar World Cup. And some truly believe he could be on course to referee the final of football’s most prestigious tournament. For Dave on Twitter, however, Taylor should be sacked with immediate effect, for ruling out Phil Foden’s goal for Erling Haaland’s shirt-pull on Fabinho, but failing to spot Bernardo Silva do the same to Mohamed Salah.

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In Dave on Twitter’s defence, there is an issue emerging with PGMOL — the organisation in charge of referees — adopting a more lenient approach to fouls in games yet seemingly not applying the same ethos when the VAR at Stockley Park reviews a goal.

So you get the situation on Sunday, whereby Foden’s strike is disallowed when the VAR — which for every single goal checks what’s known as the “Attacking Phase of Play” — spotted Haaland’s clear pull on Fabinho’s shirt in the build-up. Yet no action is taken, retrospectively or otherwise, for Silva’s tug on Salah’s shirt and subsequent sly kick, merely because it didn’t lead to a goal and therefore didn’t warrant closer inspection.

“This is Anfield,” Pep Guardiola said wryly in response. But it’s not just Anfield, it’s been happening elsewhere. And, while frustrating for some, it’s not necessarily the wrong approach.

There were similar circumstances when an early Arsenal goal against Manchester United, scored by Gabriel Martinelli, was ruled out by VAR for a foul on Christian Eriksen by Martin Odegaard shortly beforehand.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta complained that the week before against Aston Villa Aaron Ramsdale was, in his view, fouled before Villa scored, but the goal stood, then Arsenal were denied a penalty for a foul on Bukayo Saka.

Yet “today is a foul” on Eriksen, Arteta said. “There were some strong tackles and no yellow cards because the threshold is low because it’s a big game. It’s really difficult to accept.”

Referee insiders told me on Monday that every Premier League club had been visited in the summer, every single player and manager met and had explained to them the shifts in approach for the season ahead. They were told the higher threshold for fouls mantra – that contact was acceptable, adopted at the start of the 2021-22 season – would remain. Referees would prefer not to penalise minimal contact. Yet any significant holding or shirt-pulling — particularly that changed the direction of the aggrieved player — would likely be given as a foul. As in the case of Haaland and Fabinho.

And there’s been a tweak so that the VAR only revisits incidents that happen soon before goals are scored, to stop ruling goals out for re-refereeing minor fouls well before the ball crossed the line.

There was criticism of Andy Madley in Liverpool’s opening Premier League game of the season against Fulham when Jordan Henderson appeared to be fouled by Joao Palhinha during the build-up to, yet some time before, Aleksandr Mitrovic scored in the 2-2 draw.

“I think they don’t go back that far,” Klopp said afterwards. “Fouls happen constantly.” He added: “This result wasn’t about the ref. We discussed the situation in the Premier League meeting, that refs don’t want to go that far back.”

The question is, what do supporters really want? A flowing, physical, contact-filled contest where only fouls in the seconds leading up to goals are afforded more scrutiny? An approach that led to a ferocious and entertaining spectacle between Liverpool and Manchester City that deserved more than the one goal. Or would people prefer disjointed, broken, bitty games, where any hint of contact halts proceedings?

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There’s absolutely no doubt Taylor is a world-leading referee. As Gary Neville, on co-commentary duties for Sky, put it during the 65^th minute of Liverpool v Manchester City: “In a game like this you’ve got to have a referee that’s sure, that’s confident, that’s experienced, to handle what’s been thrown at him. Anthony Taylor’s in the part of his career where you feel as though ‘I’m going to let this game flow, I’m going to give the fans what they want to see’.

“You have to get to that point in your career where you’ve gone through a lot of the difficult times. There might be fans in the stadium who feel they might’ve had a free kick here or there but everywhere else I’m sure they’ll applaud what’s happening out there in the middle.”

Indeed, VAR Mike Dean said in his Daily Mail column that “once he’s had time to digest it all, I’ll be messaging Tayls to congratulate him on putting in a superb performance at Anfield. His approach to refereeing this high-pressure Premier League match only added to the spectacle.”

Taylor and his VARs could probably not have had a better game than the performance during Liverpool v Manchester City. So how do you solve an unending problem?

In a world of instant replays and almost infinite camera angles, with camera crews everywhere and camera phones in the pockets and hands of tens of thousands in the stands, able to film any moment, anywhere, perhaps expectations need to be revised.

Maybe the problem isn’t with the referees, or the rules, or their application. It’s that in a game of two sides, of warring factions and competing tribes, nobody is ever going to be happy with the outcome.

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