Aston Villa boss Dean Smith slams offside decision in defeat to Man City

Smith was sent-off by referee Jon Moss for his protests after Bernardo Silva broke the deadlock 11 minutes from time.

It came after Tyrone Mings was dispossessed by Rodri, who was coming back from an offside position.

Ilkay Gundogan got City’s second late on from the penalty spot after Matty Cash was penalised for handball. Smith, by then watching from the directors’ box, felt that decision was harsh but his main issue remained the opener.

He said: “Nobody can tell me why the goal has been given. He has taken advantage of an offside position.

“I thought he would at least be told to go and look at the screen. When I realised they weren’t I told the fourth official I thought they had juggling balls for Christmas.

“If that is the law it is wrong. You can’t have people taking advantage of standing in offside positions.”

Asked what he had said to Moss to earn the red card, Smith replied: “I didn’t swear. He came over and said I am interpreting the laws of the game and I said: ‘You should have been doing that earlier’.

“I think I got treated unfairly as I have heard a lot worse things said to Jon Moss and he has not dealt with that before. It looked like he couldn’t wait to give me a yellow and then the red.

“I am frustrated because I got sucked into something I shouldn’t have.”

The match was Villa’s first in the Premier League since New Year’s Day and Smith described his team’s defending as “heroic”.

But he admitted some disappointment with the overall performance.

“I didn’t think it was one of our better ones,” he said. “There are reasons behind that.

“The commitment and the spirit was heroic but I felt we looked a bit leggy and never broke up their possession, as we normally do.”

Conor Hourihane has completed his loan move from Villa to Swansea for the rest of the season.