Pep Guardiola says the referee was not the reason that City dropped points following our 3-3 draw with Tottenham.

City looked to be heading for three points when Dejan Kulusevski scored an 90th minute equaliser that crashed down off the crossbar.

The match ended in controversy when referee Simon Hooper pulled the game back for a foul on Erling Haaland in injury time as Jack Grealish was clear of the Spurs’ defence.

The City boss and players remonstrated after the decision but he said that everyone make mistakes including him.

“I make mistakes, the players make mistakes,” Guardiola said after the game.

“It surprised me that in the moment when Erling goes down in the action from [Ben] Davies it was fine but in the right moment he stand up and the referee make the gesture to play on. After he made the pass he stopped the game. I don’t want to criticise them.

“In the touchline sometimes I lose my mind, my gesture was not proper. As a manager, I am not the guy when I am refreshed to comment.

“We didn’t draw because of that. They are happy, we are a little bit less happy.”

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Last updated: 5 December 2023

City led to 2-1 at half-time after a Son Heung-Min own goal and well-worked move finished by Phil Foden.

After being pegged back again, Grealish looked to have won the match with an 81st minute strike only for Spurs to score another equaliser.

Jeremy Doku, Julian Alvarez and Rodrigo struck the woodwork for the Blues, but City have now drawn our last three games and Guardiola says they have to recover.

“The performance was quite similar to what we have done lately,” he added. “The people say you’re concerned about goals you concede of course but the chances we concede, nothing.

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“For our mistakes and quality for opponents we concede a goal and it’s still more difficult. There are still a lot of games. It happened lately, let’s go.

“In good moments, the team won’t be defined. It’s not the first time we are in this situation where we are playing good but results don’t come.

“In our first season we were playing good but we could not get results. The only medicine from time as a player was when you are playing at the level we are playing, insist and insist and the rest will happen.”