Referee announced for Ruben Amorim’s first game, official was blasted by Erik ten Hag

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All eyes will be on Portman Road Stadium on November 24 as Ruben Amorim takes charge of his first Manchester United game as manager.

Kieran McKenna’s side are coming off their biggest win of the season, away at Tottenham to kickstart their Premier League campaign.

The new manager bounce for Man Utd should still make them the favourites but it is by no means a regular fixture against a run-of-the-mill promoted side.

What was already a potential banana skin might just have become trickier with the confirmation of the referee for the game as the history isn’t kind to Ruben Amorim’s men.

Referee for Ipswich vs Manchester United

The Premier League has confirmed the officials for matchday 12 and United have got the following referees on duty for their game:

Anthony Taylor generally gets high-profile United games. The last two United fixtures he oversaw were clashes against Liverpool, a draw, and a loss for the club.

Before that, he reffed an FA Cu game against Wigan which followed more marquee games against Tottenham and Arsenal.

Now, it is worth saying that United’s record in big games under Erik ten Hag was tragic as it is, but Anthony Taylor didn’t help, an opinion backed by facts.

Anthony Taylor’s fraught history with Man Utd

Taylor’s last United game was the infamous 0-3 loss at Old Trafford to Arne Slot’s Liverpool where Ten Hag’s men lost their heads, Casemiro put in a hall-of-shame performance, and the crowd booed the players off.

Taylor’s worst moment in a United game also involves Casemiro and it came on March 12, 2023, at Southampton.

The referee showed the Brazilian a straight red that day for a challenge on Carlos Alcaraz which was an iffy decision at best, and outright wrong at worst.

Ten Hag fumed at Taylor that day, accusing him of ‘influencing’ the game with his decision. “The deal is that this game was influenced by the referee. I said what I said, and that is the refereeing is influencing the game and we are talking about two issues,” Ten Hag said that day.

It can be argued that it was the last time Casemiro showed proper form because ever since he returned from that four-game ban (his second sending-off that season), he never looked the same.

Even beyond Casemiro, Taylor’s record in United games has been overwhelmingly against the Red Devils in the last few years.

In the last 15 United games reffed by Taylor, stretching back to 2021, United have been shown more cards than the opposition 13 times.

Even in the other two games, the tally was equal, which means an opposition has never been shown more cards than United in any of Taylor’s last 15 games.

United have won only five of those 15 games, drawing four and losing six, including multiple heavy defeats vs Liverpool and Arsenal.

If the game wasn’t already an intense one for Ruben Amorim, he’s now got the weight of a referee’s history to deal with as well!