{"id":297055,"date":"2023-12-03T19:26:12","date_gmt":"2023-12-03T19:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=297055"},"modified":"2023-12-03T19:26:12","modified_gmt":"2023-12-03T19:26:12","slug":"erling-haaland-makes-blunt-statement-on-referee-simon-hoopers-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/erling-haaland-makes-blunt-statement-on-referee-simon-hoopers-decision\/","title":{"rendered":"Erling Haaland makes blunt statement on referee Simon Hooper’s decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Erling Haaland has slammed referee Simon Hooper in a blunt social media post after Manchester City were denied a late goalscoring chance against Tottenham. Hooper prematurely whistled for a free-kick rather than allowing play to continue as Jack Grealish ran through on goal.<\/p>\n

City were infuriated by Hooper, with Haaland in particular displaying his fury at the official. The Norwegian had been fouled but regained his balance to pay a pass through to Grealish.<\/p>\n

Sky Sports\u2019 footage of the incident showed that Hooper had blown his whistle after Haaland released the ball to Grealish. City were incredulous that the referee had not allowed an advantage to see if Grealish made the most of the opportunity.<\/p>\n

After the final whistle, Haaland was seen shouting at the officials and members of the Spurs coaching staff. He stormed down the tunnel after shaking hands with a couple of opposing players.<\/p>\n

And the striker has now taken to X to vent his frustration over the incident, which has seen City drop points for the third consecutive game. Quote-tweeting a video of the moment Hooper blew his whistle, an enraged Haaland simply wrote: \u201cWTF.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sky Sports pundit Micah Richards, a former City player, said: \u201cI don\u2019t understand. The ref had a good game, until this moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe puts the whistle to his mouth, stops, waves it on. And then stops the play. Which I don\u2019t understand. He should\u2019ve let play go on, Grealish is one-on-one with the keeper. You can\u2019t explain that. We\u2019ve had so many situation where play is allowed to go on, if in doubt let it go on. We can always bring it back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jamie Carragher added: \u201cThey need to get to the bottom of this. It was a foul but to put your arm up and blow the whistle.\u201d<\/p>\n

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