PGMOL, the referee body, has allegedly admitted that Anthony Taylor made a blunder during Manchester United’s defeat to Aston Villa.
The official was in charge for Manchester United’s 3-1 defeat at Villa Park back in November.
During the game he awarded a free-kick to Aston Villa in a dangerous position and it was at this point he made his mistake.
He ordered the Red Devils’ defensive wall move back to a position more than ten yards away – despite being told by Christian Eriksen that this was the case.
Lucas Digne then scored the resulting set-piece to put the Villans 2-0 up after only 11 minutes of the game.
MEN has reported that due to Taylor being miked up, the recordings from the match were accessible.
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It revealed that Eriksen had pointed out the error to Taylor, but the midfielder was “tersely ignored” despite being “polite” in his message to the referee.
After the game, United manager Erik ten Hag revealed that he also spotted the issue with the wall.
After the game ended 3-1 to Villa, he said: “I think the free-kick is stoppable because the wall is too far.
“Okay, a small detail but details make the difference in top football. It tells everything from us because we were not fresh.”
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The report states that United went to PGMOL select Group 1 Manager Jon Moss who in turn agreed with the club.
The former official assured the Old Trafford side that Taylor would be spoken to about his error.
The referee had not refereed a game in the Premier League since that match on November 6, but coincidently his first one back was United’s clash with Nottingham Forest last night.
United won the game against Forest 3-0, with goals coming from Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Fred.
The victory has helped them close the game to the Champions League places, as they are only one point behind fourth-placed Tottenham with a game in hand.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
