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What Sergej Jakirovic said about major referee decision that left him furious at Arsenal

Hull City felt aggrieved about the manner of their loss at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday, as they were narrowly beaten 1-0 by the reigning champions

Hull City head coach Sergej Jakirovic at the Emirates

Sergej Jakirovic couldn't hide his disappointment at the performance of referee Farai Hallam in Hull City's narrow 1-0 defeat at Arsenal on Saturday, revealing that he doesn't know why he was given a yellow card.

The Croatian boss was booked seconds after City felt Christos Tzolis should have been given a red card for a last-man foul on Mohamed-Ali Cho, as the forward looked to race away towards goal in the second period before what proved to be the winning goal.

Jakirovic also felt other 50/50 decisions went against his side on a day when Martin Odegaard broke the deadlock 18 minutes from the end of a tightly fought battle at the Emirates.

City, Jakirovic admits, were fortunate to escape without giving away a penalty just before half-time when Nobel Mendy dragged down Kai Havertz. The match official was called over to the VAR screen and looked to be close to giving a penalty, before the German was adjudged to be offside in what turned out to be a bizarre moment.

"I don't know," the City boss told Hull Live when asked what his booking was for. "I don't see consistency in decisions. I'm speaking overall, about everything because they can kick us and sometimes it's a foul, sometimes it's not. Then I had to make a substitution, with Lewie Coyle coming off and Brooke Norton-Cuffy coming on. For Lewie's challenge, it's very soft. I have a tablet on the bench, and I saw the challenge; it's very soft.

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"You can whistle for a foul, but it's not a yellow card. If you are booked every time, every touch, then we will have 20 yellow cards in the game.

"For me, it's very strange, potentially a red-card challenge that Tzolis made on Ali Cho in the second half because Tzolis doesn't look at the ball. His eyes are on Ali Cho all the time, pulling him, pushing him. I don't see where the problem is in this situation (why the red card isn't given).

"He wanted to whistle for a penalty on Mendy, which is a clear foul and clear pulling from Mendy, but the offside saved us. From Howard Webb (head of referees), we have all the inputs. If you are pulling for three, four or five seconds, the referee will whistle for a foul or penalty, so we know everything about this."

Jakirovic said that the referee said nothing to him when he came over and flashed the yellow card in his direction, while he couldn't get much more information out of the fourth official.

"Nothing. Even the fourth official (Simon Hooper) tried to explain it's confirmed it, but I don't hear their communication. He can tell me whatever, and I can get yellow."

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