Former Premier League referee Keith Hackett has claimed that Liverpool violated one of the six new rules set to be enforced in the 2025/26 season during their opening day victory against Bournemouth. However, referee Anthony Taylor did not penalize the Reds for the breach.
Liverpool, aiming to defend their title under Arne Slot, secured all three points at Anfield, but it was a hard-fought win that required two late goals to seal the result.
The match started well for Liverpool, with new signing Hugo Ekitike scoring first, followed by Cody Gakpo doubling the lead in the 49th minute. Bournemouth fought back strongly, inspired by Antoine Semenyo—who had faced racist abuse earlier—scoring two impressive goals. The drama peaked when substitute Federico Chiesa scored in the 88th minute, and Mohamed Salah added a fourth goal in stoppage time.
Hackett criticized referee Taylor for a controversial decision early in the game, when Ekitike appeared to be denied a clear goal-scoring chance due to a handball by Marcos Senesi. VAR judged that it was neither a clear handball nor a denial of a goal-scoring opportunity, sparking outrage among Liverpool players who surrounded the referee.
According to the new 2025/26 Premier League rules, only the team captain—in this case, Virgil van Dijk—is permitted to approach the referee during matches. Players who confront officials without permission, especially in a disrespectful way, risk receiving a yellow card.
Video footage showed Alexis Mac Allister and Ekitike rushing to speak to Taylor, with Van Dijk joining them. Hackett, speaking to Football Insider, stated that Taylor should have intervened to enforce the new rule. He said:
“Immediately after the incident, the referee was clearly surrounded by two Liverpool players. It’s disappointing that in this opening game, with the new ‘captains only’ procedure in place, Taylor did not stop play. He should have issued a public warning to the two players and called the Liverpool captain over to reinforce the rule.”
Hackett also expressed dissatisfaction with the overall officiating during the match, particularly the failure to send off Senesi for the handball. He remarked:
“It’s incredible how the officials got the handball so wrong. The Liverpool player had a strong chance to control the ball and run towards goal with no defenders in cover. It’s clearly a DOGSO (Denial of an Obvious Goal-Scoring Opportunity) offense.”
This rough start for the referees comes amid ongoing scrutiny, as the PGMOL admitted to making 18 VAR errors last season and will be aiming for better accuracy moving forward.
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