Graeme Souness Says Referee 'Bottled it' on Key Decision in Crystal Palace's Loss to Watford

Graeme Souness has voiced his disappointment that referee Anthony Taylor did not send off Watford's Etienne Capoue after a poor tackle on Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha.

Early in the match, Capoue could be seen raking his studs down the back of Zaha's leg. Anthony Taylor, who was in an excellent position to see the incident, opted to only issue Capoue with a yellow card.

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Souness, working as a pundit for Sky Sports during their coverage of the match, was furious that Taylor had not shown a red card to Capoue. He is quoted by The Daily Mail as saying: "Capoue set out to hurt Zaha. Look where the referee is, what is he three, four yards away from it. This is bad when you see it.

"Look at the referee’s positioning. This is one of two things for the referee Anthony Taylor. He’s completely bottled it, look at where the ball is when he makes contact with Zaha’s Achilles. Now for the life of me, how does the referee not see that is a red card.

"It tells me one or two things, he’s completely bottled it or he doesn’t understand football. He is trying to hurt him badly. Normally when you damage your Achilles tendon badly, which Zaha was in real danger of doing there, you’re never the same player again.

"Watch where the ball is when he makes contact with him. It’s ridiculous and the referee could not have a better view of it. You can’t just say he got it wrong, it’s not as if he got an obscure view, and it’s not as if it’s one of those is it or is it not a red card, that is 100 per cent a red card."

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Fellow pundit Jamie Redknapp also agreed that Capoue's challenge was dangerous and malicious, yet Anthony Taylor appeared to disagree.

Despite a late surge from Crystal Palace, Watford managed to hold on and secure an impressive 2-1 victory, leaving them level at the top of the Premier League.