It is fair to say that Aston Villa boss Dean Smith wasn’t happy with some of the decisions made by the match officials in Villa’s 2-0 defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday night.
He was ordered off after protesting about City’s first goal. That was allowed to stand even though he felt it should have been disallowed for offside.
Booking upset manager
Smith also wasn’t happy with a booking dished out to Villa and Scotland midfielder John McGinn. McGinn, who like most of the Villa side were playing their first game in three weeks after a Covid-19 outbreak, was booked for delaying a City free-kick.
The booking was costly, as it means that McGinn is suspended for Villa’s next league game. That is against Newcastle on Saturday night.
Smith wasn’t impressed at all with referee Jon Moss’ decision to book the player.
“Pathetic yellow card”
“Unfortunately John McGinn’s got a pathetic yellow card which means he misses the Newcastle game now. I don’t understand that decision” he said (Birmingham Mail).
“If he books Douglas Luiz for the tackle, not a problem, but delaying the restart – it was about half a second after the foul, and we were making two subs. Again it looked like he couldn’t wait to get that out” Smith concluded.
McGinn’s absence will be a blow for the Birmingham side. He has been in excellent form for them so far this season. He will no doubt be pleased to see his manager standing up for him though.
However, Villa will just need to cope without the player for the game.