Spurs boss Postecoglou dismisses Klopp replay wish as VAR ‘threshold’ not met

Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou says he would get rid of VAR in its current form but dismissed Jurgen Klopp’s desire for a replay.

The fallout of Spurs’ controversial 2-1 win over Liverpool last weekend continues after Klopp suggested on Wednesday a replay would be the right outcome before he insisted a day later the matter was over for the club.

It comes after the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) admitted a “significant human error” occurred when the 34th-minute strike by Luis Diaz was incorrectly ruled out for offside after miscommunication by VAR operator Darren England, who was under the impression the on-field decision had been to award the goal, to referee Simon Hooper.

Postecoglou was quizzed on whether he would get rid of VAR, he said: “I would in its current form. I just don’t think that technology’s ready for our game.

“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 just think with VAR at the moment, we think it’s going to eliminate (errors) and the more we use it, I think the worse it’s going to get.

“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.

“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 arbitrator of decisions.”

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Postecoglou has consistently insisted he is not a fan of VAR and expressed fears for what football may look like in years to come if technology interferes more and more.

“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,” he added.

“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.

“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.

Meanwhile, Postecoglou played down Klopp’s claims earlier this week about replaying the fixture.

He said: “I think Jurgen’s said that and maybe that was taken a little bit out of context.

“My view is when you’re talking about a replay, there’s got to be some sort of threshold and I don’t think a mistake is a threshold for that.

“It was a unique mistake, people have used an unprecedented mistake and I agree with that, but it was still a mistake.

“So, if your threshold for replays is mistakes by individuals, that’s 365 games a year, I reckon.”