Richard Keys hits nail on head after Premier League ref reinstated despite error
Richard Keys has asked why Anthony Taylor has been given the task of refereeing the Premier League clash between Chelsea and Manchester City after the official gave a contentious penalty in the Championship over the weekend.
Taylor was given a game in the Championship after awarding the spot kick in the top-flight match between Newcastle United and Wolverhampton Wanderers. It was his first time down in the second tier in four years, but that match - between Preston North End and Coventry City - didn't pass without incident.
Late in the first half, Coventry defender Kyle McFadzean was ruled to have fouled Preston's Milutin Osmajic before the Montenegro forward sent a shot off target, prompting questions from Sky Blues boss Mark Robins. Regardless, Taylor served as fourth official for the Premier League game between Luton and Liverpool on Sunday and will now be the man in the middle in west London this coming weekend.
"Can someone explain this to me please?" Keys ased on social media, "Anthony Taylor is relegated to the C’ship for a week - gives another shocking pen - this time against Cov at Preston - then is immediately promoted back to PL for City v Chelsea."
Coventry ended up losing 3-2 to Preston, with Osmajic scoring his team's clincher in the second half. Robins refused to blame the penalty call for his team's defeat, pointing to other defensive issues at Deepdale, but did still speak out about the incident.
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"Having got that cushion and a starting point, then within two minutes we were 2-1 down and it seems ridiculous decisions – the second one was offside," Robins said. "The first movement was off-side and then he has given a penalty off the back of it, but two wrongs don’t make a right."
The penalty decision at Molineux the previous week prompted criticism from Wolves manager Gary O'Neill. The former Bournemouth boss has seen a number of other controversial calls go against his team this term, including the award of a stoppage-time penalty for opponents Sheffield United last time out.
Do you agree with Richard Keys' assessment? Have your say in the comments section
Anthony Taylor will be back in Premier League action on Sunday (Getty Images)"No chance was that a penalty," O'Neil said of Taylor's ruling in the Newcastle game. "I don’t know how they’ve got that so wrong. There’s hardly any contact on Schar at all from Channy [Hwang], it’s extremely minimal and Schar is already on his way down.
“The ball actually hits Channy on his other foot before he even makes contact with Schar, so, technically, Channy gets the ball first. I thought it was a terrible on-field decision, and I thought it was unbelievably surprising that it wasn’t overturned.
“It’s more disappointment, but I feel like I’m wasting my time speaking to them [the referees], so I won’t speak to them until they improve their level in what they produce. I have no time for them.”
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