Pep Guardiola: What was all that about?

You don’t exactly have to be an expert in body language to come to the conclusion that Manchester City coach, Pep Guardiola is not in a particularly good place at the moment. Or is he?

What is most interesting, however, about this recent “ ‘Kevin-esque’ – you’re so unfair” display can be found in its timing and motivation rather than its content.

First and foremost what strikes one is that his post match series of interviews that consisted largely of “Yes”, “No”, “Don’t Know”, “You tell me”, and “I didn’t see it”, occurred following Manchester City’s home game against Burnley and came after a victory, not a defeat or a draw.

This is important and, I am sure, totally deliberate. Pep knows better than anyone that had this contrived show of annoyance happened after a defeat it would have immediately been seized upon as a display of sour grapes with Pep being branded a sore loser.

Instead what we got was something much more interesting, Pep the sore winner, a man keen to show his ire was about something much more important and fundamental than merely the result of a game.

Maybe someone in the media should ask him why. I have my own theories.

What he has learnt in his first months in charge is that controlling games is not a surefire way of guaranteeing success and in fact there are many other factors that makes that control difficult and determine the eventual outcome – atmosphere, pace of the game, the physical side of things, and also – yes- officials.

Any manager coming here, Pep included, has to accept from the start that the law of the game followed anywhere else is simply not followed here, which means that no matter how much quality you might have, effectively it’s all a bit of a lottery.

Referees are human beings and they will make mistakes. But what is alarming is the flagrant inconsistency that abound in the Premier League in both minor and absolutely crucial decision making. And the fact that faults that exist in the rules are ignored here – a push to the goalkeeper, a dangerous high tackle…

Just why Jamie Vardy received a red card for a two-footed challenge and Marcus Rojo received no censure at all for a similar challenge on Palace’s Wifried Zaha would be just – but only just – about understandable had the decisions been made by different officials. The fact is both decisions were made by Craig Pawson and if referees can’t be consistent with themselves it’s difficult to imagine how they will ever manage to be consistent with each other.

Kun Aguero certainly deserved to be sent off for his late lunge on David Luiz in the City v Chelsea game but just what Luiz was still doing on the pitch following his last-man challenge on Aguero earlier on is probably something only referee Anthony Taylor knows although don’t waste your time even trying to ask him.

No one seems to have the remotest idea what the acceptable limits of ‘marking’ or ‘blocking’, call it what you will, are from dead balls hurled into the area. Except Mike Dean of course who seems more than keen to punish what he perceives as foul play in the area. Although to date, no one knows whether or not this is a new Premier League guideline for refs, or a one-man campaign being launched by Mr Dean.

It would be nice if someone could tell everyone, the media, the managers, the clubs, the fans and then officiate on that established priniciple. I’ll not hold my breath.

Referee, Michael Oliver, was generally thought to have had a good game in the heart stopping 3-3 encounter between Bournemouth and Arsenal but his decision to send off Simon Francis probably cost Bournemouth the win and was harsh in the extreme.

What concerned me more however – and we’re back to consistency again – was that Mr Oliver, in my opinion quite rightly awarded a penalty for a Xhaka push on Fraser before ignoring an almost identical push by Fraser on Bellerin that led to Bournemouth’s third goal.

These are the sort of decisions that have managers, including Pep, tearing their hair out.

No one would ever accuse English refs of being corrupt, far, far from it. What is inescapable, however, is that many of them are not very good and certainly not good enough to officiate at the level they do. While the quality of the football being provided and the skills displayed by some of the greatest players in the world grows by the season, the level of officiating, particularly in the Premier League is going backwards at an alarming rate.

When players are “not very good”, they are dropped, loaned out, sold. When coaches, directors of football, scouts, club doctors, fund raisers, even press officers are “not very good” they are sacked; not referees.

I believe that Guardiola cannot believe just why there is not a major debate taking place about the levels of refereeing inconsistency in the Premier League. And, as important, why faults committed in the world are not considered such in England – nobody told him there is a different rules book in the Premier League.

Having said that, I’m afraid that it will have to dawn on him sooner rather than later, that this is how it is. He needs to move on as many other managers have decided to do.

The sad truth about referees is that what we have here is a cosy little boys club with a membership consisting of a select few completely untouchable, totally unapproachable, bullet-proofed, specially chosen omnipotent individuals that can be as bad as bad can be, and still not be held to account, asked to explain their decisions or even remotely justify their incompetence.

As the old joke has it: Q – “What’s the difference between God and a Premier League referee?”
A – “God doesn’t think he’s a Premier League referee.”

Perhaps a little hash but you get my point.

There is another issue. The poor level of refereeing is actually going a long way to radically influencing the game in England and that isn’t even my opinion but rather that of practically every manager in the Premier League.

The vast majority of them will tell you that the games are made more difficult because control and quality is counter balanced by many of the refereeing decisions.

Now they won’t tell you that on the record of course, on account of the fact, that most of them harbour a desire to carry on working in this precarious industry for as long as possible and not unnaturally resent being regarded as an ATM for FA coffers.

In any case, in the refereeing lottery they find themselves in, they eventually cling onto the ‘win some, lose some’ philosophy which assumes that things balance themselves out during the course of the season.

And Pep, of course, knows as much as anyone that the only inevitability of taking a metaphorical whizz in a hurricane is that you will end up with your Armani slacks and Gucci loafers soaking wet.

Someone who is prepared to speak his mind is former referee, Keith Hackett, and it was always going to be a gamekeeper turned poacher that was always going to tell it like it is.

In his latest piece on the You Are the Ref website he says, “The lack of consistency of law application…has reached alarming levels and decision-making is at an all time low.”

This is not the first time Mr Hackett has been vociferous in his strong views about the Premier League and the PGMOL who brook no criticism. He is currently the only person seemingly prepared to stick his head above the parapet.

“It is evident that the controlling influence of the Premier League is preventing the PGMOL, the organisation responsible for the selection, development and training of our professional referees, from making any statements about the performances of their match officials,” he says.

I remain convinced that Pep will achieve success at the Etihad although the success benchmark placed on the shoulders of Pep is inevitably far greater than that placed on other managers.

Perhaps, as many a parent who has been confronted by an stroppy teenager will undoubtedly concur, sometimes a display of annoyance, can also be interpreted as a cry for attention.