Planet Swans ArchivesThe Swansea City captain had to be prevented from shaking the referee’s hand at the end of the game by Paulo Sousa after Mr Taylor sent off Albert Serran in the 17th minute – a decision that Swansea have confirmed they will appeal.
And whilst that sparked rumours of a rift between manager and captain, Monk was quick to explain the reaction “There is no issue – it was just the manager didn’t want me to speak to the referee and he was quite clear on that
“But I can see why he felt that was necessary because he believes that, if we were shown no respect, we shouldn’t show him respect by going to shake his hand.
“He (Taylor) has refereed us a few times and I went to tell him it was the worst I’ve seen him perform because he definitely got more than a few things wrong for both teams.
“And never in a million years was that a sending-off – we’ve all watched it more than enough times and I’ve still not seen anything to convince me otherwise.
“The only thing I can think of is that the referee was in a bad position because it’s not often 19,000 others get it all wrong.
“So in my head I had just wanted to make sure he knew he owes us a good performance the next time he takes charge of one of our games.
“But perhaps saying nothing is right and the gaffer just made his point known.
“I know after two months out I’m not going to be at my best in terms of sharpness, but I’m sure that will come with games,” said Monk. “I was happy enough with the actual football and my fitness, but that sharpness is important and hopefully I can do enough to stay in the side.
“It was actually a good game for me to come back into because there was a lot of work for us to do defensively once we lost the extra man.”
