Matic wants faster VAR
> ‘I think it will be better for football, they just have to do it a little bit quicker’
THE LATEST controversial chapter in the introduction of the video assistant referee (VAR) system into English football continued as Manchester United eased into the last eight of the FA Cup at the John Smith’s Stadium – a fact which must have suited Jose Mourinho perfectly.
Instead of facing an in-depth post-match inquisition into the status of his relationship with Paul Pogba, who ruled himself out of the fifth-round tie on the morning of the game, Mourinho was able to wax lyrical about the pros and cons of the officiating experiment.
The incident that caused yet more furore about the video replay system came when Juan Mata scored a second “goal” for United on the stroke of halftime only for VAR Neil Swarbrick, in a London studio, to spend more than two minutes determining that the United midfielder was offside.
“We just saw, we are not sure it was offside but OK, the referee has made a decision, they saw it on TV,” said United’s Nemanja Matic.
“We just waited for the referee’s decision. We knew that he waited for the people to see it on TV, to analyse it.
“It was a little bit strange because you have to wait two minutes to see what happened, but it’s OK. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s not. I like it.
“I think it will be better for football, they just have to do it a little bit quicker because we waited so long for the decision.”
Matic’s view seems to echo the general consensus thus far about the system – admirable in its intent, its utilisation has to become more streamlined and effective.
Mourinho, however, also made an important point that the match official Kevin Friend appeared to break the FA’s own protocol that says VAR should only be used in cases of “clear and obvious error,” which the Mata goal obviously was not.
Little wonder, however, that the United manager was happy to spend most of his postmatch interviews engaging in a debate over the merits of VAR, skilfully avoiding the more pressing matter of Pogba.
And so, Mourinho turned his attention towards Sevilla – and back towards Pogba – as he prepared for the first leg tie and the possibility of welcoming back Marcus Rashford, Ander Herrera and Antonio Valencia from injury.
“Look, today I didn’t rest one single player so we had today every player available here,” said Mourinho.
“I didn’t rest anyone, I brought two kids that played yesterday 90 minutes because I don’t have another player.
“Can we recover some of them to Wednesday? I believe so. I think Rashford, Herrera, Valencia I think they have a chance. Paul I don’t know.
“But you know, I think mentality is very important. And we have strong team strong bonding, strong team mentality. We know it is a very difficult match – but we go for it.” – The Independent