Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou says VAR leading to 'constant erosion of referee's authority' after Chelsea loss
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Updated 07/11/2023 at 11:24 GMT
Tottenham suffered an ultimately heavy 4-1 defeat against Chelsea in the Premier League on Monday night as they conceded a penalty as well as two red cards. In addition, manager Ange Postecoglou received a yellow card from Michael Oliver as the Australian grew frustrated on the touchline, and after the game he expressed his dissatisfaction over the way refereeing decisions are being implemented.
'Stop questioning refs' - Spurs boss Postecoglou after 4-1 defeat to Chelsea
Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou says VAR is leading to a “constant erosion of the referee’s authority” after his side's chaotic 4-1 home defeat to Chelsea.
Spurs went one up early on as Dejan Kulusevski scored from a deflection, but the match soon turned in favour of the returning Mauricio Pochettino’s men.
Cristian Romero was given a straight red on 33 minutes and the ensuing penalty was converted by Cole Palmer.
Tottenham remained in with a decent chance of holding on for a point, if not grabbing a win, until they were reduced to nine men as Destiny Udogie received a second yellow 10 minutes after the restart.
Postecoglou himself was also booked by referee Michael Oliver.
Late on, Nicolas Jackson scored a quick-fire hat-trick leaving Spurs well beaten, and their Australian manager to work out where his side had gone wrong.
He told Sky Sports: "It is pretty hard to process. It is almost impossible to analyse the game because it just seemed to get out of control for large parts of it.
"Disappointed by the result but really proud of the players, they gave everything and that is the positive we will take.
"We were very close to getting an equaliser a couple of times and it shows their spirit. It was just a bridge too far today.
"I thought we started really well, scored a great goal and inches away from another. The red card affected the game, I felt like I was standing around waiting for things to happen, with VAR intervention. It felt like a lot of standing around."
Discussing the role VAR has in modern football, Postecoglou added: "There will be a forensic study of every decision out there, I think that is the way the game is going and I don't like it.
"If you look at all that standing around we did today, maybe people enjoy that sort of thing but I'd rather see us playing football."
He continued: "You have to accept the referee's decision, that is how I grew up. This constant erosion of the referee's authority is where the game is going to get - they are not going to have any authority. We are going to be under the control of someone with a TV screen a few miles away.
"The decision is the decision. In 26 years I have had plenty of bad decisions, I have had plenty fall in my favour. It is what it is."
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