Ange Postecoglou has said that he is personally not a fan of VAR, opining that technology in its present form is not ready for football.
There has been a major debate around VAR since its implementation a few years ago and the chorus of voices calling for it to be scrapped has only got louder recently.
The miscommunication between VAR and the on-field referee in Tottenham’s clash against Liverpool has once again brought the spotlight on the use of technology in the game.
Postecoglou has said that while he is in support of goal-line technology, other aspects of technology are not ready to be widely used in game as it is being at the moment.
(Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
Is VAR suitable for the Premier League?
When asked if he would scarp VAR, the Tottenham head coach told Football.London: “I would in its current form. I just don’t think that technology’s ready for our game. 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. We’re analysing in slow motion yellow cards. We as players and coaches, we’re the worst culprits for it because we talk about integrity and all these things, but watch a game of football tonight, any game, the first throw in I bet you both teams appeal for it. With one knowing it’s not theirs, and if you get it, you don’t go ‘oh, it wasn’t ours, it’s theirs. Give it to them’.
“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.”
Postecoglou pointed out that the technology, which was supposed to be used only for clear and obvious errors, is now slowly influencing more and more decisions, which leads to the game being slowed down.
He continued: “It was there for the clear and obvious error, it seems like everything now. Yellow cards, fouls, corners, everything’s getting scrutinised. It’s not our game, we’re not rugby, we don’t have those stoppages. What I always loved about England was the frenetic pace of football.
“That’s what everybody said. Premier League, English First Division, that was the difference between some other leagues where you ‘oh, it’s so slow and ponderous, it drives you nuts. Not the English league, it’s bang, bang’. Why are we trying to take that out?
“Now, I think part of the consequence of last week was that none of us liked it when they were taking so long to make a decision and it sounded like last week they were rushing into a decision.
“That suggests to me that I don’t think the technology in its current form is suitable to our game, but I know I will be in a minority with that and my role within that is to accept that whatever my feelings are on it, ultimately, there’s still going to be an arbitrar of decisions and we have to abide by it when they come about.”
The 58-year-old opined that it was the flaws in football that added to the uniqueness of the sport, which is why the attempt to sanitise it were doomed to fail.
When aked if VAR is sucking the fun out of the game, he responded: “I don’t know about that, it’s still fun, but this is probably the only time I’m happy I’m 58 and not 38. I don’t know what the game is going to look like in 20 years’ time and I’m not sure I would like it with the way it’s going.
“I’ve always loved the fact that our game has more flaws in it. The uniqueness of our game is the goal is so hard to get. We always focus around that. Usually, goals came from either a combination of brilliance or some flaws by someone. A player, a manager, a referee, something happened and a goal came.
“We’re trying to sanitise all that by trying to make it into something that I just don’t think is our game. That’s not what I’ve loved about football. I’ve loved the imperfect nature of it.
“When you’re sitting there analysing every little decision – and it seems we’re going that way where people just want every decision to be right – then that will slow down the game invariably, there will be more interruptions and they’ll take away from what I love about the game, but that’s me personally, other people might see it differently.”
Spurs Web Opinion
I broadly agree with Ange Postecoglou that most decisions in football (such as handballs and fouls) are not black and white, which is why the technology will not work as well as it does in sports such as tennis or cricket.
Having said that, most people completely miss the point when they criticise VAR and call for it to be done away with. VAR was never going to completely get rid of all the mistakes.
However, what it has been extremely successful in doing is in reducing the number of errors. It makes no sense to use incidents like Luis Diaz one as evidence for why VAR should be removed because the goal would have still been ruled out without VAR as the on-field decision was offside.
The moment VAR is removed, the same people will start clamouring for its return because of the amount of objectively wrong calls that are made by referees every week.
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