Ange Postecoglou has dismissed Jurgen Klopp’s call to have the Tottenham and Liverpool game replayed but has said the VAR should be scrapped in its current form.
Liverpool were wrongly denied an opening goal in their 2-1 defeat at Tottenham last weekend due to an error by VAR operator Darren England.
Luis Diaz’s strike was given offside by the on-pitch officials, but England mistakenly thought they had made an onside call.
Diaz was onside and England confirmed that decision before realising the misunderstanding meant he had given the green light for the game to restart with the goal disallowed.
Tottenham boss Postecoglou on Friday accepted Liverpool were denied a “legitimate goal” due to the mistake.
Referees body the Professional Game Match Officials Limited admitted it was a “significant human error”, with Liverpool manager Klopp saying a replay was the fairest solution.
There is no suggestion of a replay being considered by Premier League chiefs, but Postecoglou was willing to admit his side had a lucky break.
“The facts of it are that it was a legitimate goal Liverpool scored that wasn’t given,” the Australian said.
“You kind of look at why it’s not given because that’s the first thing you question: obviously something has broken down.
It became clear it wasn’t an integrity issue. It wasn’t a misappropriation of the law. It was an error in communication, a mistake, a mistake which cost Liverpool.”
Postecoglou though did not agree with Klopp that replaying the game would be the fair solution.
“There’s got to be some sort of threshold and I don’t think a mistake is the threshold for that,” he said.
“If we strayed into integrity or misappropriation of the law then maybe there’s something there, but ultimately, when you strip it all back, it was a mistake.
“It was unique and unprecedented, but it was still a mistake.
It was unique and unprecedented, but it was still a mistake.
“If your threshold for a replay is mistakes by individuals, then that’s 365 games a year I reckon.”
Postecoglou went on to claim the VAR should be scrapped in “its current form”.
“I just don’t think that technology is ready for our game,” he said.
I’ve got zero against goal-line technology. It’s a no-brainer and it works for our game.
“Our game is unique.
“People say, ‘Let’s get referees explaining their decisions’. Oh my God – seriously? Could you imagine sitting there listening to a referee explaining every decision in the game?
“I’m going to the gridiron on Sunday – I love American football. But it’s three and a half hours.
The measure of who was a good referee was the ones you never noticed and now we’re trying to make them the stars of the show.
