The Athletic report that Klopp believes referee Anthony Taylor pitied Manchester United and missed further red cards

Posted by

Manchester United displayed several moments of poor discipline in a game that saw referee Anthony Taylor show Paul Pogba a red card.

It has now been reported by The Athletic that ‘sources close to’ Jurgen Klopp believe pity was shown to the ten-men, on a day where Liverpool put five goals past them.

The ‘source’ described, via TEAMtalk, that there were calls for Fred to be dismissed with his Antoine Griezmann style kick to Naby Keita’s face, which raised concerns over a lack of consistency.

Questions were also asked regarding Cristiano Ronaldo’s kick and Bruno Fernandes high-tackle which were both executed on Curtis Jones.

Finally; the tackle from Harry Maguire on Diogo Jota as he entered the United area and denied what appeared to be a goal scoring opportunity, was scrutinised.

It’s unlikely that Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side would have had Pogba, Fred, Ronaldo, Fernandes and Maguire all sent-off on a day when they conceded five goals with 11 men on the pitch, but when each incident is analysed closer there is enough evidence to at least raise the question as to why it wasn’t more than one red card.

Questions were raised over Taylor’s ability to referee a game of this magnitude, seeing how he needed VAR for the eventually disallowed Ronaldo goal and awarding a yellow card for Pogba’s soon-to-be red, there is ground for these concerns.

Whether or not this ‘source’ can be trusted, it is worrying the amount of missed incidents that can be easily listed above and this illustrates why fans will always bemoan the appointment of the Manchester-born referee.

More Stories Anthony Taylor