Frustrated Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola defends Erling Haaland, praises players despite Everton draw

Afterwards, manager Pep Guardiola was visibly frustrated. Though he claimed his team were unlucky to not take all three points, and he assessed his team’s performance as broadly positive, there was a sense of annoyance with the outcome.

The Manchester City boss was full of praise for Everton, in his own particular style.

He said: “They made a fantastic goal with the first shot on target they had, so we played a real real good game. Of course the result was not expected but that is football, it is not the first time it happened. We did everything to win. They played really well.”

Guardiola couldn’t resist a small pop at the referees, though.

He said: “Afterwards they broke a bit the rhythm because the referees were not ready but, in general, we did everything and unfortunately could not win.”

Guardiola was especially frustrated with the physicality of Everton’s defending, something he addressed by complimenting his players’ reactions.

After an early foul by Ben Godfrey, striker Erling Haaland came close to losing his cool.

He responded with a comparably poor tackle on Vitality Mykolenko, for which he was given a yellow card.

Guardiola didn’t dispute the booking.

He said: “I will talk with Haaland about that. It was a yellow card, definitely. With the yellow for Erling I said be careful because it can be dangerous. We cannot play 10 v 11. He was a little bit angry after what happened in the first action with his ankle. He reacted well and we did a good game.”

Pep then raised the issue of Everton’s treatment of Jack Grealish.

He said: “With Jack Grealish three or four times he was down and nothing happened and then the first action from there it was a yellow card. I have said many times to the team for many years, we are Man City. We have to do our best but it can happen.”

Having apparently criticised the consistency of the refereeing, Guardiola was given the chance to clarify his position, which he did.

He said: “No, no, no, no, no. How many years are we here, seven? Do I complain about referees? I don’t have a relationship with referees. I don’t want one. Before when we have a meeting I never go, my assistants go. I don’t want to talk to them. The meetings with Premier League referees, I don’t want to be there, I don’t care. They do their job. for me it’s fine. We made a fantastic game. I think we have the duty to talk about the football, about the game. But I know what’s happened.”