Manchester City players were furious with Simon Hooper after he failed to play advantage in the closing stages of Sunday’s dramatic 3-3 draw against Tottenham.
The Premier League champions headed into the break with a healthy 2-1 lead but were stunned by a second-half fightback from Spurs, who restored parity through Giovani Lo Celso. Jack Grealish thought he’s struck the winner in the 81st minute only for Dejan Kulusevski to power home a header in added-on time to pinch a point for the visitors.
City tried to regroup and find a late winner after Kulusevski’s goal and were presented with a golden opportunity to do just that when Grealish found himself all alone in Tottenham’s half – only for Hooper to bring play back for a foul.
The incident left Manchester City players absolutely seeting, especially Erling Haaland, who was absolutely bewildered by the decision. As Hooper argued his case, Gary Neville also expressed his confusion on Sky Sports.
Neville, who was commentating on the match, said: “Oh no! Simon Hooper played on to start with…what’s he done there? That’s a really strange one.”
The anger over the incident was still rife when Hooper blew the final whistle just minutes later. Haaland, who was the player fouled, stormed off the pitch in a rage and launched a verbal tirade at Hooper, telling the referee to “F**k off!”, according to social media.
The incident was scrutinised after the match on Sky Sports, who showed a clip of Hooper seeming to play advantage before blowing his whistle after Grealish is played in, rather than after the foul on Haaland.
Micah Richards said: “I don’t understand. The ref had a good game, until this moment. He puts the whistle to his mouth, stops, waves it on. And then stops the play. Which I don’t understand. He should’ve let play go on, Grealish is one-on-one with the keeper.
Roy Keane also felt that Hooper made a mistake but stressed that Manchester City only had themselves to blame for letting Spurs back into the game. He added: “It is a poor call, Jack is through on goal. He’s got that wrong, for some reason he’s blown the whistle. City will be critical of themselves for letting Spurs off the hook, don’t blame the referee for that one.”