SMITH SEES RED OVER CITY GOAL
FURIOUS Aston Villa manager Dean Smith blasted match officials after seeing red following Manchester City’s latest win.
Smith, below, was sent off for protesting to referee Jon Moss after Bernardo Silva broke the deadlock with a controversial opener. The Villa boss claimed that Rodri had come from “10 yards offside” to dispossess Tyrone Mings and assist the goal - with VAR failing to intervene. “It was a farcical decision. I’ve not seen a goal like that given,” said Smith. “It needs to be looked at.
“I don’t think anyone in this stadium thought it was a goal. I thought they would go over to the
VAR screen. I saw the incident and then I saw that it was kicking off, so I asked the fourth officials did they get juggling balls for Christmas.
“For the second goal, a header from a yard out that has hit his arm. That’s not handball? Ridiculous.”
City continued ther red-hot form – this was their sixth straight victory in the league – with Ilkay Gundogan’s late penalty doubling the lead and securing the points for Pep Guardiola’s team.
Smith hailed what he described as a “heroic” performance from his players.
His opposite number Guardiola, right, insisted for its end to end nature that his City side were in control of the game throughout.
“We arrived at the byline many times but we could not score the opening goal but then Bernando Silva was there and it was his goal that made the difference,” said the City manager.
“We struggled against Brighton in the last game – they are one of the best teams for creating chances, so it has been hard for us. Maybe they are not clinical but they are good.
“It was a very good performance again, against a top side.
“Villa are a very dangerous team, and just look at their results this season. This was a big victory.
“The most difficult thing is always to score a goal and in the second half we were more aggressive.”