Credit: Imago / Sky Sports Main Event

Harri Burton

Sat 16 August 2025 8:30, UK

Anthony Taylor failed to implement a new rule introduced for the 2025/26 season in Liverpool’s opening-night thriller against Bournemouth, according to Keith Hackett.

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The former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official exclusively told Football Insider that two of Arne Slot’s players, Hugo Ekitike and Alexis Mac Allister, clearly broke a rule during the first half on Friday, 15 August.

Marco Senesi appeared to avoid a red card for a blatant handball decision, not allowing Ekitike to break free behind the defence, with the two stars crowding the referee, neither of whom is the club captain.

Implemented during the summer, only captains are allowed to approach officials when discussing incidents on the pitch, and in this case, that would have been Virgil van Dijk.

This article contains exclusive comments from ex-PGMOL chief, FIFA official and former professional referee Keith Hackett.

While Senesi’s initial contact was clearly accidental, the second flick took the ball away from the attacker and was clearly a denial of a goalscoring opportunity.

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The decision, luckily for the Reds, was quickly forgotten as goals from Ekitike, Cody Gakpo, Federico Chiesa, and Mohamed Salah helped to seal a 4-2 win over the Cherries in their opening game.

Antoine Semenyo, who was subjected to racial abuse in the first half, for which Hackett did praise Taylor’s handling, grabbed a second-half brace to drag his team onto level terms, but the Cherries could not hold on in the final 10 minutes.

Alexis Mac Allister protested the decision (Credit Imago)

It was always going to be a tough ask for Andoni Iraola‘s men, having lost several key players over the summer, but the game may have gotten all the more chaotic had Taylor started dishing out cautions.

While the referee managed to keep the players calm, Hackett was still disappointed not to see him bring the new laws into play, something that the former PGMOL boss had feared over the summer.

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former referee said: Immediately after the incident, the referee was clearly surrounded by two Liverpool players.

“What a disappointment in this opening game, and the introduction of the new “captains only” procedure introduced this season, that referee Taylor did not stop the game.

Virgil van Dijk is Liverpool captain (Credit Imago)

“He should have issued a public warning to the two players, calling the Liverpool Captain across to reinforce the point.”

Current PGMOL boss, Howard Webb, will likely be studying Taylor’s performance at Anfield and applying fixes to any mistakes or missed moments to the rest of the campaign.

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