Rodri does not seem quite as exercised about the fact that he was allowed to stay on the field despite committing two offences that were both distinctly bookable, only one of which earned him a yellow card. He does not mention corruption in that decision in his post-match ravings. \u2018I\u2019m guessing Rodri doesn\u2019t do irony,\u2019 Ally McCoist said on talkSport on Monday morning.<\/p>\n
No, he doesn\u2019t. In fact, Rodri is just getting warmed up. He cannot accept that it is starting to look as if his team might not be good enough to beat Arsenal<\/a> to the title this season and so his arrogance is searching for another explanation.<\/p>\n He thinks he is getting to the heart of the conspiracy against Manchester City<\/a>. He says it is because \u2018we won too much\u2019 that everybody is against his team and that City\u2019s chance of victory over Tottenham<\/a> Hotspur on Sunday, when they blew a 2-0 half-time lead, was sabotaged.<\/p>\n Really? Because City won too much? If he actually believes that, why did the referees not mobilise against City after they had won two titles in a row in 2022? Or after they had won three titles in a row in 2023?<\/p>\n After Manchester City’s draw with Spurs on Sunday, Rodri said that \u2018people don\u2019t want us to win\u2019, burning with the self-righteous indignation of the entitled player who wants to blame anyone but himself<\/p>\n Rodri loses out to Xavi Simons of Tottenham as City throw away a two-goal lead. After the match the City midfielder launched into an extraordinary rant<\/p>\n Surely, officials would have done everything they could to stop City setting a new record by winning four titles in succession for the first time in English football history the season before last? But that didn\u2019t happen. It didn\u2019t happen because that iteration of Manchester City was a brilliant team and it was the best team.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t happen because the idea that officials discriminate against one team in English football is the fantasy of the loser.<\/p>\n Then Rodri gets to it. Then he gets to the bit he is longing to say. And he thinks he\u2019s being clever by not saying it overtly. Actually, he is just making himself look like a dangerous fool making dangerous insinuations.<\/p>\n \u2018The referee has to be neutral,\u2019 Rodri says. The obvious inference is that the referee is not neutral. \u2018It\u2019s not fair,\u2019 Rodri says, \u2018it\u2019s not fair because we work so hard.\u2019<\/p>\n Maybe it\u2019s time that Rodri understands what\u2019s not fair. What\u2019s not fair is being one of the leaders of a team that drops points in a contest it should have put out of sight, and deciding to abrogate all responsibility by blaming his team\u2019s failings on referee Robert Jones and VAR officials who made a contentious decision.<\/p>\n What\u2019s not fair is a player of Rodri\u2019s standing, a Ballon d\u2019Or winner, one of the best players in the game, making dark hints that English football is corrupt because Manchester City have only won one league game in the last six.<\/p>\n What\u2019s not fair is saying, as Rodri did, that you respect referees and you never speak about referees and then speaking about referees in the worst possible way. What\u2019s not fair is saying you respect referees \u2018massively\u2019 and then throwing them under a massive double decker bus.<\/p>\n What\u2019s not fair is raising the temperature against referees even higher. What\u2019s not fair is making their jobs and their lives even more difficult. What\u2019s not fair is inflaming the mood of fans in an age where conspiracy theories already gain more traction than they should.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dominic Solanke scores the goal that so upset City’s Rodri – but pundits were divided on it<\/p>\n What\u2019s not fair is a player of Rodri\u2019s standing, a Ballon d\u2019Or winner, one of the best players in the game, making dark hints that English football is corrupt<\/p>\n What\u2019s not fair is increasing the chances that officials will be threatened, or attacked, for making honest decisions.<\/p>\n And, by the way, before Rodri starts hinting about conspiracies, he ought to remember that many supporters of rival teams have convinced themselves that some English referees have been compromised by being paid to referee in Abu Dhabi, where City\u2019s owner, Sheikh Mansour, is a prominent member of the ruling family.<\/p>\n Look, Rodri and Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola are entitled to be upset about the decision not to rule out Dominic Solanke\u2019s first goal for Spurs, scored in the 53rd minute.\u00a0<\/p>\n Solanke appeared to foul Marc Guehi as he got the final touch to the ball but the referee allowed it and VAR did not overrule him.<\/p>\n I thought it was a foul. I thought the goal should have been disallowed. But opinion was split. On\u00a0Match of the Day, Danny Murphy and Troy Deeney, both excellent analysts, said they agreed with the referee\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n People interpret incidents on the pitch in different ways. It was ever thus. It was not an outlandish decision. It did not provoke universal outrage. It was certainly not enough to warrant a suggestion there is corruption in the English game.<\/p>\n Let me mention one other thing: midway through the first half, City\u2019s Abdukodir Khusanov made a late tackle on Conor Gallagher and caught him on the top of the foot. He got nowhere near the ball and Gallagher was sent sprawling to the ground.<\/p>\n It is not Robert Jones\u2019 fault that Arsenal have a deeper squad than City. It is not Robert Jones\u2019 fault that Rodri is still struggling to regain his form after a long injury lay-off<\/p>\n At one point, City\u2019s Abdukodir Khusanov made a late tackle on Conor Gallagher and caught him on the top of the foot. Yet Khusanov wagged his finger furiously to suggest that there had been no contact\u00a0<\/p>\n Khusanov wagged his finger furiously at referee Robert Jones to suggest that there had been no contact and that Gallagher was trying to deceive him. Replays showed clearly that it was an obvious foul. Attempts at that kind of deception are not peculiar to City but it was a small episode that showed how difficult a referee\u2019s job has become.<\/p>\n If Rodri can\u2019t suck it up, if he can\u2019t accept that the reason City didn\u2019t beat Spurs lies at their own door, then he should keep his counsel instead of throwing dirt at officials who are an easy target, in order to divert attention from his team\u2019s inconsistencies.<\/p>\n It is not Robert Jones\u2019 fault that Arsenal have a deeper squad than City. It is not Robert Jones\u2019 fault that Rodri is still struggling to regain his form after a long injury lay-off.\u00a0<\/p>\n And it will not be Robert Jones\u2019 fault if the FA slap Rodri with the long ban he deserves for making unsubstantiated claims about the neutrality of referees.<\/p>\n Newcastle’s mascot snub a sorry sign of the times\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"After](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/106036235-15519761-image-m-4_1770034868468.jpg\")
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