Pep Guardiola claims to have not fully trusted any refereeing decisions across his tenure at Manchester City, branding VAR calls a ‘flip of a coin’.
City know that they must beat Crystal Palace on Wednesday night to keep up pressure on Arsenal in the Premier League title race.
And their manager insisted that City cannot rely on others for help in the wake of West Ham’s controversial late disallowed goal during the weekend defeat by Mikel Arteta’s leaders.
Guardiola’s view of the country’s officiating is further shaped by the introduction of VAR in the top flight seven years ago – but he told his players they cannot blame anybody else if they do not achieve their goals this season.
‘We lost the two finals of the FA Cup because the referees didn’t do their jobs they should do, even the VAR,’ Guardiola said.
‘When this happens it is because we have to do better, not (blame) the referees or VAR. I never trust anything since I arrived a long time ago.
Pep Guardiola has given his verdict on the VAR call that cost Man City ground in the title race
‘Always I learned you have do it better, do it better, be in a position to do it better because (VAR) is a flip of a coin.
‘VAR was not installed last weekend. It has been here for many years, we adapt, and everybody knows it.’
The two FA Cup incidents that Guardiola chose to reference unprompted came in the 2024 and 2025 finals.
City were left fuming that Dean Henderson didn’t see red for handball as Crystal Palace beat them last year, and argue that both Lisandro Martinez and Kobbie Mainoo were guilty of fouls on Erling Haaland inside the Manchester United box the season before.
Last year’s cup final referee, Stuart Atwell, is taking charge of the Palace fixture at the Etihad Stadium as City attempt to go within two points of Arsenal.
Guardiola is expecting a much-changed Palace team, with Oliver Glasner clear that all eyes are on their Conference League final with Rayo Vallecano in a fortnight.
City’s boss has raised the prospect of rotating his own team as he manages the meeting with Chelsea and then a trip to Bournemouth.
Glasner will ring the changes for their game against Arsenal on the final day and said that any criticism that may come his way over the integrity of the competition is ‘nonsense’.
Arsenal looked to have dropped points against West Ham until the Hammers’ late equaliser was ruled out for a foul
Guardiola fully backs that stance and doesn’t want any interference from the authorities.
‘Leave the managers to do what they have to do,’ he added. ‘The less the Premier League is involved in all the decisions, will be better for all of us. So, leave it all over, so the managers do what they have to do. No problem.
‘We play in this game, we go to Bournemouth and the last game in Aston Villa we will do it too. The important one is Palace and we will see what happens to the next games.
‘I always learned that when you lose the focus, you are in a dangerous situation. The only thing we can do is do it better, that is only in your control.’
