A flummoxed Dean Smith insists the officials were the only people inside the Etihad who thought Man City’s opening goal should have stood in Aston Villa’s 2-0 defeat.
Bernardo Silva controversially broke the deadlock in the 79th minute as Rodri came from an offside position to tackle Tyrone Mings, before eventually playing the ball to Silva, who made no mistake in superbly slotting it past a stunned Emiliano Martinez.
However, according to the laws of the game, Mings’ ‘deliberate’ play for the ball meant the goal was valid, which left Villa boss Smith fuming and was subsequently sent off by referee Jon Moss for voicing his dissent.
Aston Villa boss Smith was ‘flummoxed by the nature of the goals’.
He said: “I would expect my players to put the ball in the back of the net as well, so it’s nothing against Manchester City players at all.
“I just don’t understand the ruling. If somebody is offside and they’re taking advantage of that offside position by tackling from behind, then surely that’s offside?
“I don’t think there’s anyone in this stadium apart from the officials who think that’s a goal. That’s why we’re so frustrated.
“Manchester City had a lot of chances, they’re a good team and we never broke their possession up as good as we normally do.
“I thought we started the second-half really slowly, but they missed the chances. They didn’t put the ball in the back of the net and we got some really good blocks in.
“Our goalkeeper made some really good saves. So to lose the game on two decisions like that is very tough to take.”
Moss had initially flashed a yellow card to Dean, before quickly upgrading the punishment to a red.
Smith is convinced he was treated differently to other managers in that situation as he reckoned other Premier League managers would not have been sent off.
He added: “It certainly wasn’t [for swearing]. There’s nothing that can get censored.
“I asked the fourth official if they’d had juggling balls for Christmas and he [the referee] produced a yellow card and said he was doing his interpretation of the laws of the game.
“I said, ‘well you should have started that earlier in the game’.
“I think I got treated differently to other managers there because if any other manager actually says anything there, I don’t think they get sent off for that at all.”
Mings, equally disgusted, wrote on Twitter afterwards:
“Never even heard of that rule, just let players stand offside, then run back and tackle you?
“In hindsight I should’ve cleared it, 100 per cent, but didn’t even know that was the case. Nonsense.”
Villa’s luck did not change for the better for the remainder of the match when Matty Cash was penalised for handball inside the box and Ilkay Gundongan netted the penalty in the 90th minute.