Pep Guardiola's Relentless Focus Amid VAR Controversies

Pep Guardiola has never hidden his distaste for VAR. This week, with the title race tightening and tempers flaring, he stripped away any remaining diplomacy.

“I never trust anything since they (VAR) arrived a long time ago,” the Manchester City manager said, the words carrying the weight of a man who has seen too many season-defining calls decided in a darkened room miles from the pitch.

Arsenal decision turns up the heat

The latest flashpoint came at the weekend. Arsenal, City’s relentless rivals in this title race, edged West Ham 1-0 to keep their charge on track. Deep into stoppage time, the tension snapped.

Callum Wilson thought he had grabbed a dramatic equaliser for West Ham. The away end erupted. On the touchline, Mikel Arteta’s expression froze. Then came the familiar, suffocating pause.

VAR official Darren England advised referee Chris Kavanagh to head to the monitor. Replays rolled. Pablo Felipe was judged to have fouled David Raya in the build-up. The goal was wiped out after a long review, the Emirates exhaling in unison.

That call left Arsenal five points clear at the top, with City holding a game in hand. It also poured more fuel on Guardiola’s long-standing distrust of the system.

“One is a job for the institutions that rule the competition,” he said pointedly, making clear he wants no part in leaning on referees or remote reviews to shape City’s destiny.

Scars from Wembley

Guardiola’s stance is not theoretical. It is rooted in bruises picked up under the arch at Wembley.

He pointed directly to the last two FA Cup finals as evidence. In 2024, City’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester United still stings. Erling Haaland went down under a challenge from Lisandro Martinez in the box. No penalty. Later, during a corner, Guardiola felt Haaland was being held by Kobbie Mainoo. Again, nothing given, on the pitch or in the VAR booth.

The following year brought more frustration. In the 2025 final against Crystal Palace, goalkeeper Dean Henderson appeared to handle the ball outside his area. No red card. No free-kick. No intervention.

“We lost the two finals of the FA Cup because the referees didn’t do their jobs they should do, even the VAR,” Guardiola insisted. There was no attempt to soften the blow. No caveat. Just a blunt assessment of nights he believes slipped away on decisions that never came.

Yet he turned the criticism back on himself and his players.

“When this happens it is because we have to do better, not the referees or VAR,” he said. That line matters. Guardiola does not trust the system, so he refuses to allow his squad to lean on it as an excuse.

Control what you can control

The message inside the City dressing room is ruthless in its simplicity: do not wait for help.

“Always I learned you have do it better, do it better, be in a position to do it better because you blame yourself with what you have to do, because [VAR] is a flip of a coin,” he explained. For Guardiola, the technology is not a safety net. It is a roulette wheel.

That philosophy has followed him from Barcelona to Bayern Munich to Manchester. “Always when I said to the players when I arrived here and Bayern Munich and Barcelona – do it, do it, do it better,” he said. It is his mantra of self-reliance, hammered home in title run-ins like this one.

“I always learned that when you lose the focus, you are in a dangerous situation. The only thing we can do is do it better, that is only in your control. You have to do better and better for yourself,” he added.

Eyes on Palace, then Wembley

City now head to Crystal Palace on Wednesday night, a fixture loaded with jeopardy for a team chasing down Arsenal. Any lapse, any moment of distraction, and the gap at the top could harden into something more permanent.

Guardiola will not allow his players to drift into debates about Stockley Park or what might happen if another marginal call goes against them. His demand is total concentration.

For him, the season narrows to a single, sharp point: win your duels, take your chances, leave as little as possible to interpretation.

After Palace comes another date with the competition that has given him so much frustration: an FA Cup final against Chelsea. The memories of those two recent defeats at Wembley will be close to the surface, the sense of injustice still raw.

But Guardiola has already chosen his response. Not appeals. Not campaigns. Not public lobbying of officials.

Just a relentless insistence that Manchester City make themselves so good, so dominant, that no monitor, no replay, and no “flip of a coin” can decide their fate.