Manuel Pellegrini's Whines on Officiating Miss Manchester City's Real Problems

Manchester City have several real problems after four Premier League matches, and manager Manuel Pellegrini is kidding himself if he thinks that officiating decisions are one of them.

But there was Pellegrini thrashing around like a fish stranded on a rock complaining about Mark Clattenburg's supposedly one-sided view of City's draw with Arsenal at the Emirates.

“The referee didn’t want to whistle,” Pellegrini said according to Barney Ronay of The Guardian. “There was clearly a foul. Welbeck pushed Kompany, he didn’t have any intention to play the ball. Arsenal scored both goals with fouls. On a normal day we have to win this game.”

Pellegrini even went so far as to suggest that his decision to remove striker Sergio Aguero after 66 minutes, when Aguero had scored City's only goal in the match to that point, was Clattenburg's fault.

“I’m sure in the next play that he [Aguero] would be sent off,” Pellegrini fumed according to Jason Burt of The Telegraph. “The referee had given him a yellow. Sergio was very angry and had all the reason to be very angry. He is very strong and does not go diving in.”

As City's best scorer, Aguero cannot allow his play to be undermined by a referee's decisions or his own ill temper. But Aguero's rage (per Pellegrini) and Pellegrini's own petulance serve only to distract from City's real troubles.

Yaya Toure was unavailable against Arsenal, and Pellegrini tried to mask Toure's absence with an XI that no one could have predicted, or would have.

Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Chelsea castoff Frank Lampard started with Fernandinho and James Milner in City's midfield, forcing Pellegrini to play Aguero alone up front.

Pellegrini tried to replace a dollar with three quarters to predictable effect. Arsenal basically ran City off the pitch for most of the first half, which was dotted periodically with "professional fouls" from the trio of overmatched replacements.

That City went to the changing room with the lead was the working definition of the term "against the run of play." In the end, they were fortunate to come away with one point.

For one day, City's inability to meaningfully account for lacking Toure in their XI was an inconvenience. If Arsenal can make City look so ordinary without Toure, though, what would Bayern Munich, Chelsea or Real Madrid do to them?

This is what happens when the summer's biggest acquisitions (Eliaquim Mangala and Fernando) either cannot get on the pitch at all, or cannot stay there.

This is also what happens when the Financial Fair Play chickens come home to roost, or at least that is what Pellegrini thinks.

Discussing Alvaro Negredo's departure, Pellegrini observed per a Press Association report in The Guardian that "it all starts from the restriction about the number of players. We have restrictions about the amount of players and the money we can spend."

Far worse for City than the monetary rein is the roster limitation. Lampard was deemed surplus to requirements at Chelsea, where he is a legend, but Lampard is on City's Champions League roster because City needed another "home-grown" player in the 21 they are allowed. That is less than optimal.

Chelsea clearly do not miss Lampard, as the Blues are unbeaten and were never seriously threatened in their first four Premier League matches. If City do not beat Jose Mourinho's men at the Etihad next weekend, the title race could be over before it ever really began.

Aguero has three goals in four Premier League starts, and City have still dropped five points out of 12.

On second thought, maybe Pellegrini was right to rail against Clattenburg's "very bad day."

If Pellegrini is lucky, perhaps no one will notice that the silver of last season's Premier League trophy is already beginning to tarnish.