Ex-Premier League referee Mike Dean says he will congratulate Anthony Taylor after the official put in "a superb performance" in Liverpool's 1-0 win over Manchester City on Sunday.
City boss Pep Guardiola was incensed with the official and VAR Darren England following their decision to disallow a goal from Phil Foden at Anfield, with a foul from Erling Haaland on Fabinho spotted by England and then given by Taylor once he had viewed the video screen.
Taylor then later showed Jurgen Klopp a red card after the Liverpool boss protested that goalscorer Mo Salah had been fouled by Bernardo Silva, with the incident one of many that Taylor allowed to slide during what was a fiery contest.
Klopp, Guardiola and Bernardo all hit out at Taylor after the match, but Dean, who retired from on-pitch refereeing at the end of last season and now exclusively works as a VAR, was impressed with Taylor's display.
"I didn't want to disturb Anthony Taylor so soon after his game on Sunday night but once he's had time to digest it all, I'll be messaging Tayls to congratulate him on putting in a superb performance at Anfield. His approach to refereeing this high-pressure Premier League match only added to the spectacle," Dean wrote in his Mail Online column.
"He let the game flow by waving away the soft fouls and penalising the ones that clearly overstepped the mark. It was the same for both Liverpool and Manchester City and it made for the physical battle we like to see in the Premier League.
"VAR Darren England did his job, too, including requesting that Tayls should review a possible foul at the pitchside monitor, which led to disallowing City's would-be opener by Phil Foden. Tayls couldn't see the shirt pull by Haaland on Fabinho from his position – but VAR could.
"It was a clear foul for me which left the Liverpool man on the ground, and it's important to remember that Fabinho would have been the one tracking City's striker as he made his way into the box."
Klopp admitted that he shouldn't have reacted to the failure to award Liverpool a free-kick for Bernardo's apparent foul on Salah, and that it was the correct decision to send him off even though he couldn't believe the whistle wasn't blown.
“Of course, red card, my fault. I went over the top in the moment,” he said.
“I don’t think I was disrespectful to anybody, but when you look at the pictures back, I know myself, at 55 years, the way I look in these moments is already worth a red card – who cares what I say.
“I lost it in that moment, it’s not okay. But I think, a little bit as an excuse, I would like to mention: how can you not whistle that foul?
“How on earth is it possible? I wish I could get an explanation."
Both Guardiola and Bernardo pointed to Taylor's approach to letting the game flow as evidence why Haaland's tug on Fabinho's shirt in the build-up to Foden's goal should have been ignored.
"The referee came to the coaches and said play on, play on," Guardiola told Sky Sports "There were a million fouls. But after we scored a goal, he decided it is not play on. This is Anfield."
Bernardo added: "What we expect from the referees is consistency in the decisions and when you go through a path of not whistling little contacts throughout the whole game, you need to keep those decisions and keep going that way."
