VAR and Spurs a nightmare pairing for Guardiola but there are deeper issues

Pep Guardiola is no stranger to extraordinary circumstances shaping a game where he’s facing a team managed by Jose Mourinho.

The first time that the two met as opposing managers was in the Champions League semi-finals in April 2010, where a volcanic ash cloud across Europe disrupted Barcelona’s preparations for the away leg of their tie with Inter Milan, forcing them to make the long journey to Italy by road for a match they eventually lost 3-1. After a sensational defensive performance masterminded by Mourinho in the second leg at the Camp Nou, the defending European champions were eliminated and Inter went on to claim a title of their own.

Freak weather events are one thing; what Guardiola will find harder to accept in the present day is the persistent interventions of the Video Assistant Referee that are seeing some very big decisions go against Manchester City. For the third time in ten months, a match between City and Tottenham has finished amid a maelstrom of controversy regarding the deployment of the new technology.

Sergio Aguero’s disallowed goal in injury time in the Champions League quarterfinal at the Etihad last April was the first of the series, cutting short City’s jubilant celebrations and providing a depressing precursor for all fans who’ve had the sheer joy of a late winning goal expunged via review this season.

Four months later Gabriel Jesus’ injury time goal between the two at the Etihad in the Premier League was ruled out when the ball arrived at his feet after brushing the arm of Aymeric Laporte, denying City all three points which, given Liverpool’s staggering form, now looks to have been a crucial sliding doors moment this season even though it was in August.

The extraordinary ten minutes before half-time today might start to make Guardiola believe he’s jinxed when facing Tottenham. Hugo Lloris was a yard off his line when Ilkay Gundogan struck his penalty; that’s clear grounds for it to be retaken, and the frustration was compounded when Lloris, after pushing Gundogan’s shot away to his left, seemed to clearly foul Raheem Sterling as the two went for the loose ball. Quite how Stockley Park could have multiple looks at both incidents and then award Tottenham a goal kick is mystifying.

When Sterling went over the Spurs players reacted immediately, demanding a second yellow card. In the twelfth minute Sterling had been booked for an ugly, mistimed challenge on Dele Alli that itself was VAR reviewed and not upgraded to a red card. In that instance the technology favoured Manchester City, where players at other clubs have not been viewed so charitably this season.

The inconsistent application of this technology is infuriating supporters, and also the players; in the melee that followed Sterling going over Zinchenko was booked for losing his rag, a caution that proved to have a huge knock-on effect for the final result.

Therein lies the lesson for Manchester City; whatever goes against you in a game, you need to use your ability to take luck out of the equation. Today City exhibited enough ability to do just that. They lorded it over their hosts for an hour, hogging the ball and registering a shot count of 14 to 0, but Zinchenko’s poor judgement in wiping out Harry Winks tipped the scales and ten minutes later they were beaten.

Guardiola’s City team are prone to swift, dramatic implosions when circumstances start to stack up against them. At their crucial summit meeting with Liverpool at Anfield in November, they fell apart in the first fifteen minutes after they were denied what looked a decent shout for a penalty shortly before Fabinho put Liverpool ahead.

Guardiola was raging on the touchline about the VAR technology that day and will not be happy tonight either. What will surely be the next stage of his teams’ development is righting perceived wrongs within the same ninety minutes.