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Anthony Taylor’s horrific refereeing in Chelsea vs Arsenal game lambasted by Frank Lampard

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Frank Lampard has blasted Anthony Talyor’s refereeing during the Blues’ FA Cup final loss to Arsenal on Wednesday evening. The English referee received much flak for his officiating in the game between the two London based city rivals. A majority of Taylor’s decisions had been particularly harsh on Lampard’s side, especially Chelsea FC midfielder Mateo Kovacic’s sending off in the later stages of the game.

The Croatian international had been given his marching orders for a second bookable offense, following his tackle on Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka. However, replays suggested that Kovacic’s tackle had been adjudged quite rigorously by the match officials.

The challenge on Xhaka by Kovacic had been a 50-50 challenge in every aspect of the game. Instead, Taylor chose to book the Blues’ midfield star for a second time, resulting in a red card for the 26-year old.

Chelsea FC boss Frank Lampard has minced no words in making his opinion clear about his player’s sending off at a stage where his side needed to score to level the game, having gone behind through a brace from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Lampard also spoke against the current state of VAR’s use and how it could not involve itself in decisions involving players being issued yellow cards.

The Blues manager expressed his anger at Taylor’s decision, stating that Kovacic’s tackle had been unbecoming of a bookable offense. He added that the challenge on Xhaka was never to be deemed worthy of showing a red card to his player.

“That is nowhere near [a red card] and it changes the game.

“I cannot fault the lads effort for pushing, but that is never a red card. Again, coming back to us we did not do enough to win the final.”

Moreover, Lampard voiced his frustration at Kovacic’s sending off by arguing that with only ten men left on the pitch for Chelsea FC following the midfielder’s dismissal, the Blues could no longer turn the game back in their favor.

“What kind of rule is that? There has always been this one about how you couldn’t challenge two yellows.

“Let’s use it as much as we can to get the right decision.”

Furthermore, the Blues coach also challenged the usage of VAR in such types of incidents. According to Lampard, the presence of VAR in English football should be allowed to verify the accuracy of the referee’s decision to brand two yellow cards to a certain player.

Taylor’s officiating during the FA Cup final had been the subject of much chatter on social media, especially on Twitter. The 41-year old referee was as high as fourth on the trending charts on the social media platform following the game at the Wembley Stadium. Chelsea FC transfer target and West Ham United star Declan Rice also took to Twitter to vent his frustrations over the officiating in the FA Cup final clash.

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