Pep Guardiola: Manchester City coach apologizes to referee Farai Hallam, but defends anger

Guardiola’s anger over refereeing decisions has been simmering beneath the surface for most of the season.

But all this month he couldn’t control his feelings.

Even before the recent events, Guardiola at least had some reasons to complain.

The Premier League’s Major Match Incidents Committee ruled that City should have been awarded a penalty in a 2-1 loss to Newcastle in November.

Team defender Fabian Schar caught Phil Foden after he fired a shot, but the video assistant referee did not intervene.

In the same match, Newcastle scored a goal that looked like it was offside, but Bruno Guimarães was within the 5cm tolerance level.

More recent decisions have been more subjective.

The PGMO accepted that Semenyu’s goal should not have been disallowed by VAR intervention at Newcastle in the Carabao Cup. While the offside call against Haaland was technically valid under the law, it was a transgression by VAR.

A potential red card for Diogo Dalot for a studs challenge on Jeremy Doku in the Manchester derby was a boundary call influenced by referee Anthony Taylor who gave a good account of the incident. As Webb said, if the on-field decision had been a red card it would have been awarded too.

Mosquera’s handball was also similar. You can claim a penalty kick when a Wolves player sticks his arms out from his body.

But you could also argue that his arms will justifiably be in that position because he slowed down to challenge Omar Marmoush.

The source of annoyance for Guardiola has been that all these close decisions have gone against his team – and they continue to grow.