Leeds United were on the wrong end of multiple controversial developments as they were beaten by Manchester City on Saturday.
The Whites are left to lament their sixth loss in seven Premier League games as Manchester City snatched a late winner through Phil Foden.
Daniel Farke’s side reacted incredibly well to get back to level terms, but there were multiple moments where Leeds were left rightly aggrieved at the refereeing on display.
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Manchester City edge controversial win over Leeds United with multiple questionable decisions
Leeds could have no complaints about Foden’s opener. However, when Josko Gvardiol made it 2-0 halfway through the first 45, it shouldn’t have stood.
A corner delivered by Foden was headed by a City player back out to the No.47, who was clearly well offside. His shot was saved for another corner by Lucas Perri, who then struggled to clear the following set piece, allowing Gvardiol to tap in.
Not only was Foden blatantly offside and the corner should never have happened, but Bernando Silva barged Perri in the buildup from an offside position, unsettling the Brazilian as he missed the cross in. Definitely soft, but worthy of note as Perri was clearly impeded in his attempts to claim the cross.
Manchester City’s Gianluigi Donnarumma down injured, only to recover almost instantly after team talk against Leeds United. (Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff)
Then, as Leeds turned the game around in the second half, Pep Guardiola instigated a team talk mid-half as Gigi Donnarumma was stricken by sudden and very brief ‘injury’. Once Guardiola had got his points across, the Italian made a miraculous recovery to continue as normal.
Dermot Gallagher and Jay Bothroyd react to three controversial Leeds United, Manchester City decisions
Leeds’ loss at City dominated the debate on Sky Sports’ Ref Watch on Monday morning. Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher and ex-striker Jay Bothroyd were tasked to break down each incident.
On Foden’s clear offside position that wasn’t picked up by the linesman stood merely a few yards away, Gallagher outlines why VAR couldn’t simply overturn the wrong decision.
“When the corner is taken by Foden, the assistant is forced to move to go level with the last defender,” Gallagher explains. “Foden is on his right-hand side so he doesn’t see him. Gvardiol heads the ball first time back to Foden who is in an offside position. He takes the ball in, strikes it. Wins a corner.
“VAR couldn’t get involved because it wasn’t a goal. They can only deal with the situations with the protocol.”
Then, Bothroyd looked into the incident as Silva nudged Perri out of the way.
“I have been very hard on goalkeepers, saying they need to be stronger, but in this instance I think this should have been given as a foul on Lucas Perri,” Bothroyd said.
“He starts in a position which is fine, but when he backs into the keeper, even though he lets go of him, it’s that split second that stops the keeper getting around to the ball. So I think that should have been a foul and the decision was wrong.”
Pep Guardiola conducts full team talk as Gianluigi Donnarumma gets treatment for his ‘injury’. (Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff)
After that, Gallagher explains the issue behind Donnarumma’s injury and City’s decision to stage a full team discussion in the meantime.
“Referee is hamstrung. You’re not a physio, you’re not a doctor. There is nothing a ref can do.”
Manchester City exploit rules vs Leeds United – Not fit for purpose as Daniel Farke left with nothing
Technically, there’s nothing that Man City have done that is outside the ruling.
Foden is obviously offside, but once the linesman doesn’t flag before the corner, there’s nothing anyone can do. Then, if they adjudge Silva to have not interfered, then the goal is given. And there’s no rule saying they can’t use the down time of a player’s injury to discuss tactics.
However, all three are simply common sense issues that have left Leeds with nothing. VAR goes into forensic detail for everything, sucking the life out of games. But for arbitrary reasons, they can’t just chime in quickly to say that Foden was miles offside and it’s a Leeds free-kick. It would take seconds to address.
The Silva impediment is six and two threes, you see them given, you see them not given.
As for Donnarumma, it’s so obvious what the plan was. Ruben Dias tells him to go down so they can flood to the dugout, and then he’s suddenly fine? If his hamstring was going, he wouldn’t be sprinting to join Foden’s celebrations in added time.
It stinks and there needs to be a tweak to this rule to stop it being exploited.
Read more: Leeds United handed major boost as Chelsea head to Elland Road without £115m star.