‘Can’t be worse than Hooper’ – Man City fans react after hearing the match officials who will referee the game against Aston Villa

Manchester City fans have been reacting to the news that John Brooks, Paul Tierney and Anthony Taylor will referee our upcoming Premier League clash against Aston Villa on Wednesday.

Seeking to avoid a fourth successive game without a win in the Premier League, Pep Guardiola’s side travel to Villa Park to test their mettle against a high-flying Aston Villa outfit.

Only one point separates these two teams in the top-flight table, with the Citizens in third place sitting just ahead of the Lions in fourth spot after 14 matches.

Aston Villa’s four-game winning streak in all competitions was brought to an end last weekend as they came from behind twice to salvage a 2-2 draw with Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium.

While the Citizens were forced to settle for just a point in a thrilling 3-3 draw at home against Spurs last weekend after Dejan Kulusevski netted a 90th-minute equaliser, before the game concluded in controversial fashion when referee Simon Hooper blew his whistle for a foul on Erling Haaland, sparking an angry response from the home side as it denied Jack Grealish the chance to run through on goal in stoppage time.

During post-match interview, Guardiola was furious with the officials, and when asked if he had been given an explanation for the decision, he told beIN Sports: ‘No, the master of commander Anthony Taylor knows everything in this business and didn’t tell me anything.’

Despite that, the pair will meet on the touchline again on Wednesday with John Brooks set to take charge of proceedings as the referee for the match at Villa Park, while Paul Tierney and Scott Ledger will operate as the VAR and assistant VAR.

The news was shared on Twitter by City Xtra and it attracted plenty of attention from the club’s supporters.

@MichaelC35028: “Anthony Taylor? No it’s not getting any better”

@RealAliNorafroz: “Anthony Taylor? Nah bro it just keeps getting worse”

@ce_cowps: “What an awful choice along with two more”

@The_FodenEra: “Paul Tierney in a city game? They can as well give Villa the 3 points already”

@JPJoker01: “They’re all as bad as each other at this point”

@MCFCd4nish: “Can’t be worse than Hooper”

@Buschgardens7: “Don’t care about the refs anymore as long as we stop conceding so much”