Tottenham Hotspur’s Australian manager Ange Postecoglou can rightly feel hard done by some 50/50 decisions in his debut season in the Premier League, jokingly suggesting he might move to Sweden where football’s infamous VAR laws have just been rejected by the Swedish FA.
Tottenham Hotspur entered the changing room 3-0 down at half-time to their bitter local rivals Arsenal FC at the weekend. An early own goal put Arsenal in the driving seat 15 minutes into the half, and Tottenham responded in turn, dominating possession and parking themselves in the opposition’s half in search of an equaliser.
It wasn’t long before Spurs’ defender Micky van de Ven found the net, only for VAR to pull it back for offside. Postecoglou, along with 60,000 others in the stadium that day, felt the goal should’ve stood and it was a bitter pill to swallow given the nature of the fixture.
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Dejan Kulusevski then had a penalty shout waved away by referee Michael Oliver, and Arsenal turned over possession and broke through Bukayo Saka, turning Ben Davies before doubling the visitors’ lead on the half hour mark. VAR didn’t feel the need to overturn Oliver’s on-field decision. Just 11 minutes later, Arsenal added a third.
On paper, Postecoglou’s men were the better side; they had more possession, more shots on target and a superior field tilt – whatever that means – but they found themselves behind and sinking without a trace. In a game where the pendulum continued to swing between the rivals, Tottenham will rightly feel hard done by… and Ange Postecoglou made his feelings on VAR known.
WATCH Ange Postecoglou jokes he’s moving to Sweden below.
“I thought we should have had a penalty on the weekend, other people didn’t think we should have had a penalty on the weekend,” he added.
“I wasn’t sure about Micky van de Ven’s offside but other people say it is offside. At the end of the day, who am I to sit in a room and tell officials how to do their job? They should know that – that is their job.”
PGMOL, the refereeing body in England, has admitted to countless mistakes in the Premier League this season. If, like Ange Postecoglou suggests, VAR is here to stay, then there’s much work to be done to improve its efficacy in our game and restore the trust with the teams and supporters.