Tottenham: Ange Postecoglou issues passionate VAR warning after latest change in win over Liverpool
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Ange Postecoglou gave a passionate plea to football authorities to “leave the game alone for a bit” after fearing the sport has changed more in the era of VAR than in the 50 years prior. The Tottenham manager has been a long-time critic of video assistant refereeing technology in football, and was speaking after his side beat Liverpool 1-0 in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final tie on Wednesday night.
The winning goal was scored by Lucas Bergvall just seconds after Liverpool felt the Swede, who was on a booking, was fortune to avoid a second yellow card for a foul on Kostas Tsimikas which plenty felt merited a second caution. Last weekend, Postecoglou said he felt his side would have won “on a fair and even playing ground” after they conceded a highly contentious goal in a 2-1 defeat to Newcastle where Joelinton was not punished despite the ball striking his hand in the build-up.
Speaking four days on, Postecoglou said: “My comments [after Newcastle] were misinterpreted. I said that it is very hard at the moment to understand certain elements of the game. “We’ve been told consistently, if the referee plays advantage, as long as it’s not a cynical foul the player doesn’t get cautioned. That has been relayed to us on a weekly basis, because that’s one of the things I was bemoaning last week.
“I’m really surprised at how people in this country are so easily letting the game change so much so quickly. It’s changed more since VAR came in than in the last 50 years. We never used to debate offsides, we never used to debate handballs, we never used to debate holding in the box. We never used to debate so many things.”.
