IT was clear AND obvious — VAR had its worst day yet.
Chelsea boss Frank Lampard spoke for players, coaches and fans when he said the latest terrible decision from officials at Stockley Park raised a “huge question mark” about the system.
Tottenham’s Lo Celso was not red carded despite a horror stamp on the Chelsea captain Cesar AzpilicuetaCredit: BT Sport
Azpilicueta was left worse for wear from the challengeCredit: BT Sport
Giovani Lo Celso’s horrible challenge threatened to break Cesar Azpilicueta’s leg and the failure of the officials to even book him may be the duff call that finally forces a review.
Some felt the issue would have been resolved if on-pitch ref Michael Oliver was told by VAR David Coote to rewatch the incident on the monitor.
Oliver is a far more experienced official and would surely have given a red card if he had seen it again. But for Lampard — and anyone with any feeling for the game whatsoever — it was plain that Lo Celso’s lunge was a red-card offence.
Lampard said: “The prime example is when there’s a doubt and we think it may be, he might have got it wrong. I agree, go to the monitor then, which they’re not doing.
“This one doesn’t need the monitor. It’s a clear decision, human decision — Stockley Park, red card.”
Up to a point. A VAR system is only as good as the officials using it.
In this case, Coote was not good enough and the refereeing standard is something PGMOL must address fast. But the inconsistency in the use of VAR, across the world and within the Prem, is turning it into an unforgiving weapon that undermines officials and trust in the game’s laws.
The VAR row was the day’s biggest talking point and you expected Spurs boss Jose Mourinho would have welcomed it as a distraction.
Because the second most obvious thing in the match was how much better Chelsea were than Tottenham.
A NEW LOW FOR VAR
By Mark Halsey
VAR checked for serious foul play but in my opinion it was violent conduct.
From the initial live images you aren’t sure — but when they show the angles that VAR are seeing then it is a clear red card for stamping on an opponent.
It is an error by ref Michael Oliver yet his view was obstructed.
But what was fourth official Kevin Friend doing?
The PGMOL then tried to claim the decision was not a clear and obvious error as there was nowhere else for Giovani Lo Celso to put his foot, only to backtrack and state VAR got it wrong.
They do not seem to know what they are doing.
Once again we are seeing VAR viewing a red card incident and letting it go unpunished.
We hear fans chant ‘You don’t know what you’re doing’ but do the PGMOL know what they are doing with VAR?
A lack of retrospective action surprises me, especially given their apology following the wrong call.
Frank Lampard is right to be unhappy. United’s Harry Maguire should have been sent off on Monday and so should Lo Celso yesterday.
Why do Premier League chiefs continue to ignore IFAB protocol and recommend Oliver goes to look at the monitor?
It is five yards away from the incident.
Everyone is bewildered with VAR now.
But rather than allow debate to rage on other subjects, Mourinho all but wrote off Tottenham’s season after his injury-hit team slipped to a 2-1 defeat.
It felt like he was waving a white flag as he warned of three difficult months to come this season.
The Tottenham head coach said: “I would love to be at July 1. I would love to be in pre-season, working with Harry Kane, Sissoko and Sonny. That’s not possible. We have three long months and three competitions.
“It’s going to be three long months.
“I have no complaints about my players. That is for sure.
“The only thing I can say is with what we have at the moment, it’s very difficult to do better, especially when the opponent scores first.
“Opponents know if they score a goal before us we’re in trouble.”
That is a startling admission, despite Tottenham’s striker crisis.
With Kane and Son Heung-min out long term, Mourinho has no fit senior players to play up front and Steven Bergwijn was horribly isolated.
Michael Oliver was left helpless as a VAR review concluded Lo Celso should not be sent offCredit: EPA
Frank Lampard says there is a “huge question mark” over VAR nowCredit: AFP or licensors
Spurs had tried to sign France ace Olivier Giroud from Chelsea in January but the former Arsenal forward and World Cup winner opened the scoring against them instead. Mourinho said: “Chelsea played a world champion striker.
“On the bench was the second striker of England after Harry Kane (Tammy Abraham), in the stands the second striker of the Belgium national team (Michy Batshuayi).
“We have zero strikers on the pitch, the bench or the stands. We have two in the hospital. That’s the situation, it’s an incredible, negative situation.”
But that is an incredible message for the manager of a club of Tottenham’s stature to broadcast.
Blues chief Lampard also raised eyebrows by claiming before kick-off that perhaps Mourinho’s connections at the club’s training ground had tipped him off about his tactics.
When asked how serious he was about that, Lampard said: “Serious.
“That’s the world we live in, I’m not being sinister about it. I think that can happen. We’d been working on a back three for two or three days.”
Mourinho said it was obvious Lamps would revert to a “back five” and bring back Marcos Alonso as it is what he did after previous bad runs.
David Coote was the VAR referee who made the incorrect decisionCredit: Getty Images – Getty
The former Chelsea boss added with a smile: “No one leaked me anything. They are loyal to him.”
Bosses at Stockley Park tried to be loyal to Coote. But after a few minutes, they realised they could not defend the indefensible.
Especially as so many ex-players had united in disbelief the moment Lo Celso was let off.
Ex-England striker Dion Dublin asked: “What are they seeing at Stockley Park that we’re not?”
Former Scotland striker Andy Gray fumed: “If a fully qualified referee sitting in Stockley Park sees that and doesn’t think it is a sending off he shouldn’t be sitting there.
“He saw it seven, eight, ten times. We saw it once and thought, ‘Wow, that’s off!’ That could have snapped Azpilicueta’s leg, easily.”
Former referees’ chief Keith Hackett was not impressed with Coote — or whoever decided to tell the world of his cock-up.
He tweeted: “Come on David Coote VAR. That is a red card every day. It’s not a difficult decision.
“Now I want to know who is the person at the centre of the PGMOL statement. I suggest that he updates himself on the LOTG (laws of the game).”
Arsene Wenger to launch major overhaul of offside law in bid to end VAR madness
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
