Man United vs Man City ref watch: Three decisions Anthony Taylor got wrong
Anthony Taylor was much more involved than he would have liked as Pep Guardiola’s Man City travelled to Old Trafford to take on their rivals.
Michael Carrick took charge of Man United for the first time in his second interim spell, taking over from Darren Fletcher after the Red Devils were knocked out of the FA Cup by Brighton.
United’s circus has continued at the Theatre of Dreams, while Man City challenge Arsenal for the Premier League title, but the roles were reversed on Saturday, 17 January, as the home side secured a shock 2-0 win.
Some of the referee’s decisions will have certainly played a key role in the result, and that is absolutely certain with the first of the three noticed by Football Insider.
Anthony Taylor bottles early red card
Just 10 minutes in, and Taylor already had a controversial decision to make. Diogo Dalot went crunching into a challenge on Jeremy Doku, landing studs on the attacker’s knee.
The referee stuck with a yellow card, and even after a quick VAR check, the full-back stayed on his yellow card, but had it been later in the game, very few would have argued against a straight red.
Unsurprisingly, the decision had a huge impact on the game.
Harry Maguire escapes punishment for blatant dissent
Clearly unhappy after the award of a free-kick to City, Harry Maguire made his feelings known to the referee, and even as one of the team’s leaders, it was more than just a quiet word.
Luke Shaw had brought down Erling Haaland right at the end of the first half, and before Taylor could give himself time to think, he had blown the whistle for half-time.
Likely a tactic to escape anymore angst from the England international, Maguire can count himself lucky not to have gone into the book alongside Dalot in the opening 45 minutes.
Referee takes pity on Casemiro
With United two goals ahead, the visitors were pushing hard for a comeback, and Casemiro was forced into bringing Rodri down, putting his side under pressure.
Right after booting the ball as far away as possible, the Brazilian sank to the turf with a supposed injury and was then replaced by Manuel Ugarte.
However, neither for the foul nor for kicking the ball away did Casemiro pick up a yellow card before trudging off the pitch with 10 minutes to go.