Pep Guardiola resisted the temptation to blame the referee for Manchester City being held at home by Tottenham, preferring to insist that had his players taken more of the chances they created the failure to award a clear penalty would not have mattered.
That is true, though it would be equally valid to point out that had Andre Marriner and his assistants spotted Kyle Walker’s push on Raheem Sterling seconds before Spurs drew level, City would not only have had a penalty and the chance to go 3-1 up but would most likely have played the remainder of the game against 10 men.
“I don’t think Raheem was very happy about the incident but in the end it doesn’t matter,” the City manager said. “We did not win because we missed a lot of chances, not because of the referee.
“There was a real deja vu feeling about this game, it was just like the ones against Chelsea and Everton. Tottenham had two chances on target and took them both. We missed a lot of the chances we created. We have to score more goals.”
Guardiola was not impressed with the argument that Sterling should have made more of the contact, either. “I think he was trying to be honest in staying on his feet,” he said. “I think in this country you like honest people.”
Walker was certainly honest in admitting his offence. “I was never going to get there, so I just had to do anything I could to stop him,” the Spurs full-back said.
Mauricio Pochettino took the pragmatic view, pointing out that not every foul gets spotted and that Leroy Sané’s opening goal could easily have been ruled out for handball. “If the second incident was a penalty, the first was handball,” the Spurs manager said. “There’s no complaint from me about the referee, I’m just pleased at the character and belief we showed in coming back from 2-0 down. I need to be honest, City were better than us, but our reaction earned us a massive point.”
Guardiola said more or less the same thing, though in rather earthier language. “I am sad for my players again,” the City manager said. “When we play shit I can accept a poor result, but today we did not play shit. The performance was outstanding, one of our best of the season, but like the games against Chelsea and Everton we will only be judged by the results.”
