Manchester City stars publicly express disappointment at refereeing standards during Liverpool defeat

Manchester City players have publicly expressed their disappointment at the standard of Anthony Taylor's officiating during the 1-0 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday afternoon.

The Premier League champions were looking to maintain an unbeaten run that had lasted since the opening weekend of the new season.

That looked as though it may come to fruition, when Phil Foden had put Manchester City ahead midway through the second-half on Merseyside.

However, after reviewing an incident in the build-up to the goal, match referee Anthony Taylor and VAR ruled the goal out for a foul from Erling Haaland on Fabinho.

That caused significant uproar in the Manchester City squad, as well as among Pep Guardiola and his coaching staff.

Mohamed Salah would go on to put Liverpool ahead in the game just minutes later - a strike that would prove to be the winner at Anfield.

In the aftermath of the clash, two Manchester City players felt it necessary to vent their frustration on what they believed were inconsistencies in refereeing from Anthony Taylor across the course of the 90 minutes.

Speaking to broadcasters after the defeat at Anfield, Bernardo Silva exclaimed, "What we expect from the referees is consistency in the decisions.

"When you go through a path of not whistling little contacts throughout the whole game, you need to keep those decisions and keep going that way."

The Portugal international continued, "If you want to whistle all of them, whistle all of them. If from the beginning of the game you're not whistling little fouls, and we saw it in this game that he was letting us play - which is good, which is fine - then if there is a goal, you cannot whistle a soft one.

"If you want consistency from the referee, you cannot change just because there is a goal.

"Just because it's a tough decision you have to make the tough decision and keep the goal," the Manchester City midfielder concluded.

Club captain Ilkay Gundogan continued on a similar line, as he exclaimed to the press that while match referee Anthony Taylor officiated the match 'the English way', things changed for one moment.

"Throughout the 90 minutes, the referee did it the English way and the game - in 100% of the cases - keeps going," Gundogan began. "It's what everyone wants."

"He's standing a few yards away (from Erling Haaland's adjudged foul on Fabinho), lets the game continue, we score, I just don't see enough reason to go to VAR."

Manchester City will have to wait until next weekend to look to correct their mistakes from the defeat against Liverpool.

Pep Guardiola's side host Brighton at the Etihad Stadium, after their midweek English top-flight clash against title rivals Liverpool was postponed due to the Gunners' European schedule.