Guardiola has no qualms with referee Oliver as Man City downed by Villa
Manchester City were beaten at Aston Villa and Pep Guardiola insisted the referee had no bearing on the result at Villa Park.
Pep Guardiola refused to lay the blame on referee Michael Oliver after Manchester City were beaten 1-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday.
Matty Cash drilled home from the edge of the box in the 19th minute at Villa Park after being teed up by an Emiliano Buendia corner.
However, City felt that Oliver's decision to award the corner in the first place was incorrect.
Guardiola, though, preferred to focus on where City went wrong in a defeat that leaves them six points adrift of league leaders Arsenal, rather than point the finger at the officials.
"It was a corner. A good corner and a goal. Listen, it doesn't matter. We can talk about this reaction," he told BBC Sport.
"Listen, in 10 years already here, I respect the referees too much. It was a corner, and we should've defended that. You cannot complain about actions from five minutes before.
"We had the chances to score, we couldn't do it. We will improve.
"I am satisfied. We played really good in the Premier League mainly, and we're getting better. We will learn from that. It's a long journey, we will try to be close at the end."
