Pep Guardiola unhappy with refereeing decision despite win over Wolves | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola bemoaned refereeing standards as he called for an explanation as to why Manchester City were denied in penalty in Saturday’s victory over Wolves.

City comfortably saw off the Premier League’s bottom side 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium to end a run of four games without a win.

It cut Arsenal’s lead at the top of the table to four points but Guardiola’s most pointed post-match comments were over an officiating decision that went against them.

Referee Farai Hallam, who was taking charge of his first Premier League game, refused City a spot-kick with the score 1-0 after Omar Marmoush flicked the ball against Yerson Mosquera’s arm.

The VAR asked Hallam to review his decision on the pitchside monitor but he decided to stick by his original verdict, considering Mosquera’s arm to have been in a natural position.

Guardiola was enraged and suggested the incident compounded frustration on top of a long list of injuries and a decision not to send Manchester United’s Diogo Dalot off for a foul on Jeremy Doku in last week’s derby defeat.

The City manager said: “These (last) two seasons I had the feeling, why don’t I have the players? That is my only regret.

“I would love to have the players to fight against that. They won despite them.

“The referee made a huge debut. Now everybody will know him. I think it’s the first time they go to the TV and disallow what is a ‘normal’ position of the arms.

“I am pretty sure (referees chief) Howard Webb is going to appear in the media with an explanation why it is not a penalty and what they have done against United.

“I think it is the first time they have done it but the situation was a little bit of a doubt. That is why Jeremy could not play (against Bodo/Glimt) in Norway, for the action from Dalot.

“I’m waiting. Howard Webb come tomorrow and explain why it’s not a penalty.

“Bring me back the (injured) players please to fight (as) we have done since day one.”

Marmoush put City ahead after six minutes and Antoine Semenyo doubled the lead in first-half stoppage time.

Semenyo also hit the woodwork in the second half but Wolves did show some spirit and hit the bar themselves through Mosquera late on.

Guardiola said: “The energy was really good in the first half. The last 20-25 minutes were a bit flat but, considering the amount of games, it was a good result and hopefully we can take good energy for our game on Wednesday.”

Wolves manager Rob Edwards felt Hallam made the correct decision.

He said: “I thought his arm was in a natural position. I thought fair play to Farai in his first game in the Premier League to be able to make that call. I think it was the right call.

“My concern is that the VAR made him go to the screen and wasted four or five minutes.”