Anthony Taylor’s Bad Day: West Ham v. Liverpool

Posted on April 6, 2014 by Jenna Leave a comment

I’m going to be honest with you guys: I didn’t watch much football today. I was out late last night killing zombies.

Long story.

But pretty much first thing in the morning, my phone started buzzing with texts:

“Did you see it??”

“Anthony Taylor sucks.”

“Not a yellow card!”

So, after a couple of Rockstars I regained some semblance of humanity and finally got around to watching the West Ham v. Liverpool highlights. And while I agree that Anthony Taylor did sort of suck…

The penalties were right.

Seriously? Those clowns woke me up for this?

The first was a clear handball in the box. Yes, Suarez kicked it right toward James Tomkins’ arm, but he had his arm outstretched and had plenty of time to pull it back. He definitely moved the ball with his arm. He was lucky Sucky Anthony only gave him a yellow card, because he certainly could have been sent off.

The second…sure, the goalkeeper, Adrian, got the ball first and then touched the man. That wasn’t what earned the penalty kick. Watch the replay. He then puts his second hand on Jon Flanagan and gave a little tug that put Flanagan on the ground (above).

If he hadn’t done that, the ball was still in play, there were no defenders, and Flanagan could have conceivably still gotten up and taken a shot.

Adrian got a yellow card for mouthing off, but it could have been much worse. If, you know, Taylor didn’t suck.

But seriously, WTF are West Ham complaining about?? It should have been 2-0, because that “goal”? In what universe is it okay for Andy Carroll to hit Simon Mignolet in the face and then pull his arm down and knock the ball out of his hands?

This universe, apparently.

And Assistant Referee Stuart Burt saw it. He told Taylor there was a clear foul and Taylor was all: