Erling Haaland has escaped punishment by the English Football Association for his reaction to referee Simon Hooper's decision to halt play during Manchester City's 3-3 draw against Tottenham on Sunday, but the Premier League champions have been charged with failing to control the behaviour of their players.
City forward Haaland responded to a video clip on X of Hooper's decision not to allow Jack Grealish to race onto a through ball in the fourth minute of stoppage time at the end of the game, with the Norway international writing "Wtf."
FA sources have told ESPN, however, that Haaland's post did not breach rules in relation to regulations covering media comments and social media activity.
Haaland, the Premier League's leading scorer this season, has also avoided censure for angrily confronting Hooper on the pitch following the decision to blow the whistle when Grealish received the ball.
The incident involving Haaland and Hooper is central to City being charged with a breach of FA Rule E20.1 in terms of the conduct of their players.
Haaland led a group of players, including Rúben Dias and Mateo Kovacic, who surrounded Hooper to protest against the decision.
In a statement, the FA said: "Manchester City have been charged with a breach of FA Rule E20.1 after their players surrounded the match official during the Premier League fixture against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday 3 December 2023.
"It's alleged that, during the 94th minute of the fixture, the club failed to ensure their players do not behave in a way which is improper.
"Manchester City have until Thursday 7 December 2023 to respond to the charge."
Sources have told ESPN that no further charges will be brought against the players or coaching staff from either side.
Video Assistant Referee causes controversy every week in the Premier League, but how are decisions made, and are they correct?
After each weekend we take a look at the major incidents, to examine and explain the process both in terms of VAR protocol and the Laws of the Game.
In this week's VAR Review: How Manchester City were robbed of the chance to win the game against Tottenham Hotspur, plus penalty decisions between Chelsea and Brighton & Hove Albion, and possible spot kicks for Arsenal and Nottingham Forest.
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Man City 3-3 Tottenham Hotspur
Play stopped on Grealish counterattack
What happened: The game was into added time when Emerson Royal tripped Erling Haaland in the centre of the park. Referee Simon Hooper paused for a second as Haaland regained his feet, before the striker got to his feet and played Jack Grealish through for a run on goal. But Hooper stopped the play and brought it back for the free kick.
Review: It's not a decision that's covered by VAR, but it was by far the biggest refereeing incident of the weekend.
All referees will incorrectly stop play instead of giving the advantage to the attacking team a few times a season, but not in added time of the biggest game of the weekend when the scoreline is level.
Hooper plays the advantage, but changes his mind with the ball in flight as it is above Grealish and the Tottenham defenders. The referee mistakenly thinks the ball isn't of sufficient quality for Grealish to run on to, yet it becomes clear immediately after he has blown the whistle that the England international may have been through. Hooper's first instinct on the advantage was right, but he's then blown too early to pull it back having misjudged the pass. By that point it's too late.
Of course Hooper got this badly wrong, and we'll never know if Grealish would have got through for a shot on goal or if one off the three defenders, perhaps Ben Davies, would have made a challenge. The Spurs players stopped at the point of the whistle, which may give the impression that Grealish had a greater chance than he did have, but snuffing out the possibility of a match-winning chance is a big error.
Hooper had a good game up to this point, but the only discussion over his performance will be this mistake in a crucial situation.
Despite a high-profile error on the first weekend of the season, when Hooper failed to award an added-time penalty to Wolverhampton Wanderers at Manchester United, he is viewed as one of the most improved Premier League referees over the past year. Towards the end of last season he was given a number of key games, including this same fixture (which City won 4-2), the Merseyside derby and Manchester City vs. Liverpool. This season he was in charge for Tottenham Hotspur's controversial 2-1 win at home Liverpool, when there was a VAR error out of his control to disallow a Luis Díaz goal for offside. Last weekend he was the referee for Newcastle United vs. Chelsea, before being given this City-Spurs game.
Haaland was booked for dissent immediately after the incident, but the Football Association won't look at his furious reaction at the full-time whistle as well as his "WTF??" tweet in response to a video of it. Man City will be charged as the club failed to ensure their players do not behave in a way which is improper.
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