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The manager of Tottenham, Ange Postecoglou, is urging for a halt to the criticism of referees’ choices in order to maintain their credibility.
In their first Premier League defeat of the season at home to Chelsea, Spurs had two players receive red cards. However, they chose not to publicly criticize referee Michael Oliver.
Unfortunately, in the first half, there were a total of 12 minutes added to the game due to multiple VAR reviews. As a result, the Australian believes that there have been too many instances where technology has been relied upon excessively.
Mikel Arteta, the manager of Arsenal, criticized the winning goal scored by Newcastle during their match on Saturday, stating that the three VAR checks were a “disgrace”. The club also released a statement, urging for urgent improvements in the standard of officiating.
According to Postecoglou, there are no in-between options when it comes to decisions – you either agree with it or you don’t.
A portion of the blame lies with ourselves, but if we continuously gripe about poor choices every week, it will result in what occurred today: a detailed examination of each decision.
Some of the issues may be caused by ourselves, but if we constantly criticize poor choices every week, the result will be what we experienced today: a thorough examination of each decision.
I believe that is the direction the game is heading. I personally don’t approve of it – I may be in the minority as it is considered the way to progress. The use of VAR only seemed to result in a lot of idle waiting.
Ultimately, we must come to terms with the decisions made by the referee. Continuously undermining the referee’s authority will only result in a loss of their credibility and control over the game, as decisions will be made by someone far removed from the field, relying solely on a TV screen.
The Spurs initially had the lead thanks to Dejan Kulusevski’s goal in the sixth minute, which was deflected. However, their second goal by Son Heung-min was disallowed by VAR for being offside.
However, the game took a turn when Cristian Romero received a red card for his tackle on Enzo Fernandez, resulting in Cole Palmer’s penalty kick equalizer. The situation worsened as Destiny Udogie received a second yellow card in the early minutes of the second half, leaving the home team with a difficult task ahead.
In the 75th minute, Nicolas Jackson scored the first goal of his hat-trick, followed by two more in added time.
Postecoglou stated that it is difficult to comprehend and analyze the game due to its complexity.
Although the outcome may be disappointing, we can still be proud of the hard work put in by the players. That is the silver lining we can focus on.
Source: independent.co.uk
