After Rodri was dismissed for Manchester City during their 2-0 victory against Nottingham Forest, Pep Guardiola said that he was upset with the midfielder.
On Saturday at the Etihad, the Spain international raised his hands to Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White’s neck just after halftime.
After Rodri objected to the verdict, VAR took some time to support referee Anthony Taylor’s ruling. Guardiola, though, believes there are no justifications for his player’s actions.
“Hopefully Rodri will learn,” the Man City boss remarked. With 35 minutes remaining, the game was flawless; but, after that, anarchy ensued.
“That’s not our job, there’s no doubt about that, but Rodri needs to have self-control over his feelings. Rodri cannot receive a yellow card, but I can. I’m not a gamer. The men inside (the pitch) must exercise caution.
“At halftime, I advised the players to take it easy and keep their emotions in check. Sadly, Rodri was unable to complete it. We must now accept the judgments.
When asked if Rodri had him in his sights, Guardiola said, “Yes. I dislike playing with 10 because of our flaws. He has expressed regret.
Guardiola was unhappy with the way Taylor managed the game despite his criticism of Rodri.
There were 11 cautions issued throughout the game in addition to Rodri’s red card, including one for Guardiola.
“The referee changed the game,” claimed Guardiola.
“It was definitely not (a poor game) for the first 35 minutes. What altered? We had no control over what occurred after a 2-0 score. I don’t know if the others will hang up the phone, but you must ask them.
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With goals from Phil Foden and Erling Haaland inside the opening 14 minutes, City had established a comfortable lead.
The hosts had to alter their strategy once Rodri left, and Guardiola was happy with the result.
In the opening 35 minutes, he stated, “Our game was beyond brilliant. How we found our players free, it was really, very good.
We had to defend for a long period of time, and in the 94th minute, we gave up one chance. Against a side that triumphed at Stamford Bridge and caused issues at Arsenal and Old Trafford, we didn’t let up any more goals.
“I’m really happy and satisfied for us all.”
Steve Cooper, the Forest manager, had conflicted feelings about how his team had performed.
We got off to a fairly bad start in terms of goals allowed, he added. We were aware of the difficulty of the task at hand—it doesn’t get much harder—and the two City goals were excellent examples of what to expect from City goals.
But we had anticipated that. It was a repeat technique, and I didn’t want to let it to go down as smoothly as it did because if they were going to score, I wanted it to be a genuine challenge.
“The red card alters the course of the game. I have conflicting views regarding the fact that the second half was played in City’s half.
Rarely do you get the chance to control that area here. Even more seasoned teams don’t get close to it, but we need to take advantage of these chances more often. We need to work harder and produce more.
Luton is one of the top five Premier League clubs that has not lost a point when in a winning position, according to Man City.