Arsenal get Anthony Taylor verdict after Man Utd free-kick controversy

Gary Lineker and Micah Richards have rushed to the defence of Anthony Taylor after the referee’s free-kick controversy during Arsenal’s draw at Manchester United.

Bruno Fernandes broke the deadlock on the stroke of half-time in Sunday’s Premier League clash, scoring a stunning free-kick to give United the lead. The Red Devils captain stood over the ball after Leandro Trossard fouled Alejandro Garnacho just outside the box, while matchday official Taylor walked the Arsenal players back towards their goal.

Fernandes was able to generate enough power to beat the jumping wall – consisting of Jurrien Timber, Riccardo Calafiori, Gabriel and Declan Rice – and get the ball to dip enough to beat David Raya in goal. Red Devils legend Gary Neville, on commentary, immediately spotted that the wall was further back than usual, saying: “The wall looks a fair way back. Looks like it’s giving him a chance. It looks a mile back.

“Usually, you see the wall, particularly a big wall like that, it always looks really difficult to get it up and over. There just seemed to be so much space, so much space that he didn’t even have to go that high up into the net.”

Sky Sports later confirmed that the wall was 11.2 yards away, with Taylor miscounting the regulated 10 yards. And Neville added after the game that you could tell “something was wrong” as the ball went in only “halfway up the net”.

Now, Match of the Day host Lineker and pundit Richards have defended the under-fire referee by claiming Taylor made an honest mistake. Lineker began by saying on The Rest Is Football podcast: “I actually thought that’s quite refreshing he’s taken them back because so often now you see the wall about six yards or seven yards away and it’s impossible to score but you can see why Arsenal perhaps might have the hump around that.”

Alan Shearer added: “Not taking anything away from Fernandes, I think he had a huge space to aim at. It’s a great skill to be able to do that, to get the pace on it, up and down as quickly as he did. It was a brilliant free-kick but the keeper was miles away from it, wasn’t he?”

Richards then chimed in with: “A lot of people will be asking, who aren’t die-hard fans, ‘what does it matter?’ If the wall’s further back he has more space to get the ball up and down so it’s more difficult for the goalkeeper. But I mean, if we’re scrutinising that… the referee took 10 steps didn’t he?

“We can’t be blaming the referee for that because it happens. I think now in football, we’re over-analysing everything. The referee’s human, he’s walked out and taken ten steps. You’ve got all these amazing technologies nowadays that give you precise… but football’s never been like that has it? And you can’t expect the referee to get a ruler out and start measuring exact lengths.”

He added: “I think the more frustrating thing for Arsenal is, after the Champions League that big 7-1 win, to come to Old Trafford and not be able to break down Man United. I think that’s the bigger question. We can blame all these little decisions but ultimately I thought Man United defended a lot better.”

Despite those comments, United midfielder Christian Eriksen admitted that the distance of the wall was crucial in United taking the lead. The Dane said: “Happy that the wall was about 15 metres away, so it was perfect for him to put it over.

“I think I saw it early before the kick. It was the same when they had it in the second-half, obviously we were a bit angry with the ref for putting us so far back.”

Arsenal shot-stopper Raya made amends by making several outstanding saves to keep Mikel Arteta’s side in the game, while Declan Rice scored with a stunning 74th-minute strike to earn a point. However, the result only made Liverpool’s Premier League triumph this season more likely, with Arsenal now trailing the league leaders by 15 points, with a game in hand.

• Source: NEWHD MEDIA