Micah Richards believes the decision to disallow Phil Foden's goal against Liverpool was not clear and obvious and constitutes 're-refereeing the game'.
City midfielder Foden looked to have opened the scoring 10 minutes into the second-half when he latched on to a collision between Alisson Becker and Erling Haaland before smashing in off Joe Gomez. But when VAR official Darren England told Anthony Taylor to check the screen, the referee ended up pulling the game back for a foul when Erling Haaland looked to have pulled Fabinho to the ground in the build-up.
Foden's disallowed goal - and the touchline fury from Pep Guardiola that followed it - flicked a switch at Anfield and ignited a chaotic second-half, with referee Taylor notably lenient throughout in allowing the game to flow. And former City defender Richards believes the original decision - that was to allow the goal - was correct at the time, and that England's decision to send him to the screen was 're-refereeing the game.'
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"It was a couple of occasions of Haaland making a nuisance of himself," Richards told Sky Sports. "There was a little bit of quality from De Bruyne, good goalkeeping by Alisson and Foden puts it in.
"The decision, if you look at Fabinho, he’s already going down, the referee has given that decision [no foul]. Why not stay with your original decision? On the evidence for me, that’s re-refereeing the game, in my opinion. I don’t think that’s clear and obvious if I’m being totally, totally honest.
"It’s very close. Liverpool deserved it, I just think these crucial moments, you slow it down, if you put it in normal pace Fabinho is already going down."
Carragher agreed that Taylor had allowed some harder tackles to go unpunished, in keeping with the battling atmosphere that whipped around Anfield. And the former Reds captain was split on what he thought of Haaland's foul.
"I thought Anthony Taylor throughout the game let a lot go, I want to see that from a referee," Carragher added. "In his position, I can see why he hasn’t given it but the one angle where, on VAR, it looks like a game changing moment.
"It feels similar to the one with [Christian] Eriksen against Arsenal and almost split people. Eriksen got pulled and Arsenal went up the other end, I think that one will be the same where people say he’s pulled his shirt but in real time it doesn’t look like too much.
"It’s one of them decisions, if it’s the other way, I’m going the other way. When it’s against you, you’re saying it’s not a foul. But it’s a shirt pull no doubt about that."
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