Pep Guardiola slams referee inconsistency for Man City disallowed goal

Pep Guardiola slammed the referee for going against his own instructions when he disallowed Manchester City's goal at Anfield.

Phil Foden thought he had given the visitors the lead in the second half when he crashed home a loose ball in the box, only for referee Anthony Taylor to go to the monitor and disallow it for a foul in the build-up. City went on to lose the game - their first defeat of the season - when Mo Salah pounced on a Joao Cancelo error in the 76th minute to score the only goal of the match.

Guardiola was furious with Taylor as he went to review the decision, shouting at him as he passed him to go to the screen before sarcastically applauding the decision. After the match, he explained that the referee had spoken to City assistants before the game about how he wanted the game to be run but went against his own advice when he ruled the goal out.

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"The referee spoke with my assistant coaches and said I'm not going to make fouls, and I will be clear. All game it was play on and play on and play on. Except the goal. After that, it was not play on," he said.

"The ref can decide I'm going to whistle all the actions but he decided not to do it and then after he did it. We didn't lose the game for that because nobody knows what would have happened, but we had momentum and control and scored a goal but could not have it and then after we lost by a mistake.

"We didn't follow the transition that we know every time Alisson plays quick. Kevin didn't follow, Joao lost the duel - it is always difficult against Salah because he uses his body so well - and this is what we have to learn for the future for tight games like against Liverpool