Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola urged Erling Haaland to keep calm after Ben Godfrey clash
- Planet Sport writer
- 31 December 2022
Pep Guardiola bemoaned the loss of two points but had no complaints about Everton’s approach after the Merseysiders snatched an unexpected 1-1 draw at the Etihad Stadium.
Demarai Gray cancelled out an Erling Haaland strike with a stunning equaliser in a feisty Premier League clash on Saturday.
Everton's game plan frustrated City in a stop-start, foul-ridden and ill-tempered contest - although the largest contributor to the 11 minutes' stoppage time played in the second half was the need for one of the assistant referees to have his headset repaired.
City manager Guardiola 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.
"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's only real gripe was over a perceived lack of consistency from referee Andrew Madley.
He claimed he had no issue with Haaland's booking for a rash tackle on Vitaliy Mykolenko and revealed he needed to tell the Norwegian, who was fired up after an early clash with Ben Godfrey, to calm down.
However, the Spaniard was irked that rough challenges on his players were not similarly punished.
Guardiola said: "It's a yellow card for Erling, definitely. I said, 'Be careful, it is an action, it can be dangerous - we cannot play 10 against 11'. I know what had happened - he was a bit angry from the first action on his ankle.
"But Jack Grealish was three or four times down, nothing happened, and the first action (from Haaland) was yellow card."
Asked if he was complaining his players were not getting enough protection, Guardiola said: "No, no, no."
