Pep in reffing hell!
Guardiola’s fury at penalty snub
PEP Guardiola was enraged after City were denied a potentially matchwinning penalty against Arsenal.
Nacho Monreal’s late handball could have seen the Blues turn the heat up on Premier League leaders Chelsea ahead of Wednesday’s clash at Stamford Bridge.
The Arsenal full-back later admitted he handled in the area - but referee Andre Marriner failed to point to the spot. Even more infuriating for Guardiola was the fact that it was Marriner who missed a blatant push on Raheem Sterling during City’s draw with Tottenham in January.
The Blues manager confronted the official on the pitch after the final whistle in yesterday’s 2-2 draw.
He later said: “Monreal said he touched the ball with the hand. But he said to me in England in that kind of situation there’s no whistles.
“What I said, I said to the referee. So that’s all. I said to the referee, the same happened against Tottenham, the same referee.
“I said ‘always in face’. I don’t come here to talk about the referees. But of course, if Monreal said it… Wow. It’s okay. I said many times, what I can do is control what I can control.”
The draw leaves City 11 points behind Chelsea, who suffered a shock defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday.
CITY missed the chance to force their way back into the title race, with Pep Guardiola claiming his team ‘forgot to play’ against Arsenal.
The Blues were held to a 2-2 draw at the Emirates, despite twice taking the lead against Arsene Wenger’s under-pressure side.
Guardiola’s team had been offered the faintest of hope of mounting a late challenge to Chelsea, following the runaway leaders’ shock defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday.
But they failed to take advantage as goals from Leroy Sane and Sergio Aguero were cancelled out by Theo Walcott and Shkodran Mustafi.
It felt like a chance squandered against an Arsenal side bereft of confidence amid of a run of six defeats in their last nine games going into the match.
Guardiola believes he has identified his side’s greatest failing – claiming City wait until moments of adversity to produce their best.
“We play better when the team is going down,” he said. “When the team is down and the results after, we react because everything is lost and we react in a good, good way.
“To handle a situation at 1-0, we are not comfortable, not yet. Not yet to handle that.
“But we will be better, we will improve in the future about that.”
Despite going in at half-time with a 2-1 advantage, Guardiola claimed Arsenal had been the better team to that point – prompting him to substitute Raheem Sterling in a bid to control possession. In a withering assessment, he said: “After the first half when we scored a goal we forgot a little bit to play.
“We are here to play with the ball, a desire to take the ball and play. And we miss a little bit – forgot a little bit to do that.
“That’s why in the first half Arsenal was better. Of course we had the chance to make the counterattacks, but we missed easy balls, and when you do that you cannot control the ball.
“The second half was much better, especially when Yaya went in, because he has this huge personality to play, it doesn’t matter where, alone or with the people.
“We were able since then to make three, four or five passes in a row.
“When that happened we were more compact, more together, we can create chances through the ball. “We didn’t play like other days. “I am happy as a manager, when in the end we play as I would like to see my team play.
“The reason why I am a manager, I would like to play in that way, and the teams can do that.
“In the end, we have to improve. We have to improve.”