Manchester City’s “monster striker” Elling Holland has taken to social media to criticize the referee who denied his side a late winner against Tottenham.
City drew 3-3 at home to Son Heung-min’s Tottenham in the 14th round of the 2023-2024 English Premier League (EPL) at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, on Thursday (June 4).
They looked to be on course for a 3-2 victory, but had to settle for a point after conceding an equalizing header to Dejan Kulusevski in the 45th minute.
After the game, Holland posted a video of himself attempting a penetrating pass in stoppage time on his X-factor Twitter account, accompanied by the phrase “WTF,” 온라인카지노 an English slang term for surprise or displeasure.
With the score tied at 3-3 in stoppage time, Holland won the ball in the center circle and was momentarily off balance by a tackle from Tottenham’s Emerson Royal.
With referee Simon Hooper signaling for play to continue without a foul, Holland fed a penetrating pass straight to Zach Grilish in front of him.
As Grealish burst into the space behind the Tottenham defense and tried to get to the ball, Hooper suddenly halted play, and later awarded a free kick for a foul on Emerson Royal.
Had Grealish continued to advance towards goal, he would have found himself one-on-one with the keeper and could have scored to seal a dramatic victory for City. There was no room for an offside call.
The referee’s decision to follow up on a clear signal to speed up the play was met with vigorous protests from City players, including Holland, which resulted in a yellow card for Holland.
Pep Guardiola was also seen expressing his frustration to the assistant referee.
Jermaine Jenas, a former Tottenham player who now pundits football for the BBC, said: “It’s a terrible decision. I don’t know what referee Hooper was thinking. “I don’t know what referee Hooper was thinking, it’s a big mistake,” he said.
City manager Guardiola was quick to criticize Hooper in his post-match press conference, pointing to the incident.
“Holland was a bit disappointed (at the time),” Guardiola said, “and even that referee, if he was playing for City today, he would have been disappointed with that decision too. I’m sure of that,” he said.
“I don’t want to criticize the referee,” he added, “sometimes (I) lose my cool on the touchline and do things that are not appropriate, but that’s not why we drew today.”
Tottenham coach Anzhi Postecoglou also said, “I understand Guardiola’s feelings,” when asked by local reporters about the controversial call. 바카라사이트