Tottenham Hotspur

Ange Postecoglou: 'I would get rid of VAR in its current form'

By Ben Knapton, Senior Reporter | 07 October 2023

Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou says that he would be in favour of ditching VAR in its current format following last weekend's unprecedented controversy.

Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou would be in favour of ditching VAR altogether amid a spate of contentious calls early on in the 2023-24 season.

The Lilywhites benefitted from a major refereeing blunder during last weekend's 2-1 win over Liverpool, where Luis Diaz had a first-half goal incorrectly ruled out for offside.

VAR official Darren England seemingly failed to notice that the linesman's flag had gone up on the field, and he quickly told Simon Hooper "check complete" as the 2D lines showed Diaz clearly behind Cristian Romero.

England was not made aware of his mistake until play had resumed from a Spurs free kick, and the PGMOL admitted that a "significant human error" had occurred in North London before publishing a two-minute audio clip of the officials' discussions earlier this week.

Prior to Diaz's disallowed goal, Hooper also upgraded a yellow card for Curtis Jones's challenge on Yves Bissouma to a red with the help of the monitor, but Postecoglou does not believe that football is "ready" for such technology.

Liverpool's Luis Diaz scores a goal that is later disallowed on September 30, 2023 © Reuters

When asked if he would get rid of VAR at Friday's press conference, Postecoglou replied: "I would in its current form. I just don't think that technology's ready for our game," as quoted by football.london.

"I've got nothing, I've got absolutely zero against goal-line technology, that's a no-brainer because that's quite significant, but it works for our game. I just think our game is unique and I know people say well let's get referees explaining their decisions - oh my God. Seriously?

"Could you imagine sitting there listening to a referee explain every decision on the game. I'm going to the gridiron on Sunday, I love it, I love American football. It's three-and-a-half hours mate. Do you want to sit through three-and-a-half hours of listening?

"I mean referees, the measure of who was a good referee was the ones you never noticed, and we're trying to make them the stars of the show. It's just human beings, we're trying to take advantage.

"There's nothing wrong with that, we're trying to work within the framework of what we're given, but I just think with VAR at the moment, we think it's going to eliminate...and the more we use it, I think the worse it's going to get."

As well as Diaz's wrongly disallowed strike, a Premier League panel has reportedly concluded that Diogo Jota - who was also dismissed for two challenges on Destiny Udogie - should not have been sent off last weekend.

Liverpool's Diogo Jota is shown a red card on September 30, 2023 © Reuters

The panel are said to have voted 3-2 in favour of Jota's second yellow card being incorrectly given, and while Liverpool head coach Jurgen Klopp did not directly call for a replay, he stated that such an outcome would be the "right thing to do".

However, Postecoglou does not believe that one individual fault does not justify a replay, otherwise there would be "365 games a year", adding: "I think Jurgen's said that maybe that was taken a little bit out of context.

"My view is when you're talking about a replay, there's got to be some sort of threshold and I don't think a mistake is a threshold for that, irrespective of the consequences. If we stray into integrity or misappropriation of the law, then you maybe have a case to say 'well, you know what, there's something there'. But, ultimately, when you strip it all back it was a mistake, that's what it was.

"It was a unique mistake, people have used 'an unprecedented mistake' and I agree with that, but it was still a mistake. So if your threshold for replays is mistakes by individuals, that's 365 games a year, I reckon."

Amid the officiating drama, Tottenham maintained their unbeaten start to the new term against the Reds thanks to Son Heung-min's opener and Joel Matip's late own goal either side of Cody Gakpo's equaliser.

The Lilywhites occupy second place in the table with 17 points on the board and could now rise to the summit above Manchester City with victory over Luton Town on Saturday lunchtime.