Integrity has been compromised.
One reason put forward was that Areola had been fouled and as the keeper actually won the ball Taylor waved play on giving them the advantage but when Cody kind of negated that advantage Taylor blew for a free kick.
But MOTD showed or appeared to show Taylor waving play on and gesturing to Areola to get up (not the two armed 'advantage signal)...but then as Cody was about to strike Taylor stopped the game and then in an effort to cover it up called for the physio even tho Areola was standing up.
This incident warrants investigation. To me this is as bad or worse than the offside call at Spurs, as that had an element of judgement....or more accurately mis-judgement. It is obvious from the footage that no foul was called....now that may have been a mistake (It wasn't) and the ref forgot to blow the whistle....yet the footage makes it clear the ref waves for the keeper to get on with the game, so he can't now claim he thought it was a foul. Once the ball is thrown down, that ball is now in play and Gakpo was right to chase it down (he should have put it in the net regardless of the late whistle.)....Taylor then goes into full panic mode, confused as to whether he'd awarded a free kick or not. Once he gets to the keeper is where this gets truly bizarre...the ref tells the keeper to sit down and then calls for medics to come on. This is clearly done in an effort to disguise his error....change the narrative from a reckless refereeing f*ck up, into a concern for the injured keeper. We are not stupid, we have eyes, we have seen it clear as day....this was a monumental calamity from Taylor.
I'm surprised there wasn't more made of it post game....Did JK even mention it?...There needs to be an official explanation, as the silence from the PGMOL is deafening. I've never supported the conspiracy theory (and still don't)...but this can't go unanswered.
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