Manchester City midfielder Rodri lamented the standard of Premier League refereeing and admitted that confusion around decisions is making it hard for him to keep his composure.
The 27-year-old is three yellow cards away from a two-match suspension after picking up another booking during the dramatic victory at Newcastle United on Saturday evening.
His latest was for a challenge on Bruno Guimaraes almost immediately after City claimed the Brazilian should have seen red himself.
Rodri was seen remonstrating with referee Chris Kavanagh at half-time and gesturing to Bernardo Silva after the final whistle at the inconsistencies in decisions.
When put to him that players are struggling to understand ever-changing laws, he said: ‘I agree. To be honest, the referee [at Newcastle] was unbelievable in a negative way.
‘We don't understand many things that happened. We don’t feel that equal to some behaviours.
‘It's difficult [to stay calm]. The referee doesn't help much, but we don’t want the help, we just want it to be fair in both directions and I think Saturday they weren’t.
‘This season I have seven yellow cards with two or three tackles, the other are for I don't know what, but it is what it is.’
City saw goalkeeper Ederson substituted early with a deep wound in his leg as a direct consequence of the linesman keeping his flag down instead of ruling offside. John Stones has been ruled out for weeks following a similar incident at Everton over Christmas.
Rodri suggested that the directive needs reviewing. ‘We have an injury because of this [offside] situation,’ he added. ‘I think it is ridiculous. It could have been worse, fortunately it was just a kick, but there are lots of injuries in this situation.
‘We have to check if it's the
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