Manchester City played out a 1-1 draw with Chelsea on Saturday night and after the game, Rodri expressed his frustrations about the refereeing – but pundit Danny Murphy batted away his comments on Match of the Day.
City were unable to beat the Blues again at the Etihad Stadium, after they took points off City back in the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge.
The result is slightly frustrating given Liverpool and Arsenal both won their games yesterday.
But City have the chance to close the gap to Liverpool down to just one point if they beat Brentford on Tuesday.
City threw the kitchen sink at Chelsea yesterday – Jeremy Doku especially had a lot of the ball – but the Blues defended well to their credit. The two centre-backs, especially Axel Disasi, were really solid.
Erling Haaland had an off day for City, but the whole team just fell short in the final third.
A frustrated Rodri wasn’t happy with the referee after the game, but Danny Murphy did not share his views…
Danny Murphy disagrees with Rodri about the referee in Man City vs Chelsea
City were chasing the game for a while yesterday after Raheem Sterling scored for Chelsea just before half-time.
But eventually in the second-half, it was £63 million man Rodri who lashed in from the edge of the box to give City hope of a later win.
But it wasn’t to be, although Rodri feels his side were on the end of some poor decisions. He said: I don’t remember any game with so many VAR challenges. Not one is for us, come on man. Always you see the face of the referee he’s like ‘move on, move on’. So it’s a bit frustrating, but it is what it is.”
City have a penalty shout waved away after a coming together between Kyle Walker and Raheem Sterling.
Then, the ball hit the arm of Levi Colwill after a cross into the box, but nothing was given.
Speaking on Match of the Day, Murphy said: “Although I love him (Rodri) and admire him very much, I don’t agree with him. I think Andy Madley did brilliantly with this one and got it spot on.
“I think the more you see it, Walker goes across Sterling and puts his leg across him. Sterling doesn’t even see him coming. It’s a deliberate ploy really, he initiates the contact. I think it’s a really good decision.
“Now this one (Colwill claim), I understand the discontent and disappointment from City’s players because if you think of Luton and Sheffield United and some of the ridiculous handballs we’ve seen this season…
“I think it’s the right decision not to give a penalty. I don’t want to see a penalty given for handballs when players don’t have a clue where the ball is.”
City unlucky with Colwill handball
Rodri’s frustrations are understandable, but Murphy is right here.
The Walker and Sterling clash was not a penalty with the full-back initiating the contact. There would be outrage if it was the other way round and Walker had conceded a penalty for the same challenge on Sterling.
But Colwill got lucky with the handball because as Shay Given added after Murphy, you have seen penalties given for a lot less this season.
It is good for the game that it wasn’t given, but frustrating to take because similar incidents have resulted in a different outcome.
