BBC pundit hits back at Guardiola’s referee rant | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola went on a rant against Premier League referees after Manchester City’s win over Wolves, despite pundits agreeing that Saturday’s match official got his biggest call correct.

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Manchester City had a relatively straightforward fixture at home to the Premier League’s bottom club Wolves on Saturday, and it took just six minutes for Arsenal’s title rivals to take the lead through Omar Marmoush.

But there was a controversial moment later in the half, with the referee waving away appeals for a penalty after the ball struck the arm of Yerson Mosquera.

The VAR team recommended an on-field review, but referee Farai Hallam stuck with his initial call. Hallam was making his Premier League debut, so there was certainly a lot of pressure on him in that moment.

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Pep Guardiola wasn’t sympathetic, and he could be seen ranting at the officials on the pitch after the game.

The Manchester City manager then reacted dramatically to questions about the penalty decision after the game, refusing to answer and shaking his head in an exasperated fashion, before going on a rant about other decisions in the game.

“Listen, if you and me run in the side, in our rhythm, and they push us and [we] go down, it’s diving,” Guardiola began. “But the speed with Jeremy [Doku], just touch a little bit, he cannot control [himself at] that speed. You know how many fouls they believe is diving, from Jeremy?

“In the beginning of the season they tell us on long balls when the central defender goes over the shoulders for the strikers, it will be a foul. They are right. Do you know how many fouls for Erling Haaland?”

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Whether or not Guardiola has a point on those incidents, the big penalty decision seemed to be the correct call.

“I don’t agree with Pep, I don’t think that is handball,” Alan Shearer told Match of the Day. “The defender is in a natural position, Mosquera. How is he meant to balance himself? And he’s only a yard away, Marmoush.

“Then you’ve got two experienced referees in VAR who have said to him ‘we think you’ve made a clear error there, you need to go and check it on the monitor’.

“And to be fair to him, I think he gets the right call. He says ‘no, I don’t agree with you guys’. Despite his inexperience, despite it being his first game, he’s brave enough to say ‘no, I’m making a different call, and I’m sticking with my decision and I’m not moving’.

“He got that decision right, and he got several others right as well.”