IT’S SNOW JOKE
Pochettino slams video ref after Wembley fiasco
Mauricio Pochettino warned that the video referee could ‘kill’ football as Spurs’ Fa cup win over rochdale descended into chaos.
Fans jeered referee Paul tierney’s constant first-half stoppages to use the system in a fifth-round replay made even more difficult by a blizzard at Wembley.
tottenham boss Pochettino said: ‘Football is about emotion. it is a contest of emotion and if we are going to kill emotion in football, the fans, the people who love football, are not happy about what they saw.’
Spurs ran out easy winners with a Fernando Llorente hat-trick but only after erik Lamela’s first-half goal was disallowed on a mystifying call before tierney ruled out a Son heung-min penalty due to ‘ illegal feinting’. Bt pundit Jermaine
The FA Cup presented another night of videoassisted farce, this time with the unexpected feature of a 12minute hat- trick by Fernando Llorente.
Tottenham scored six in the snow and they might easily have had more, with a goal ruled out by the video assistant referee (VAR) for an innocuous foul and a successful penalty disallowed for an illegal feint by Son heung-min.
By the end of the night, the latter decision cost Son his hat-trick but he settled for two goals and an assist as Spurs finally saw off the spirited challenge of their League One opponents.
even so, this was not Rochdale going out quietly. They fought back to equalise through Stephen humphrys around the half-hour and almost took a lead into the interval when Andrew Cannon hit a post.
Tottenham proved too strong in the end. Kyle Walker-Peters added a sixth but this has been an enthralling fifth-round tie and few of the 25,000 who braved the conditions for the replay will forget the scenes they witnessed.
When they thaw out, the debate about the technology trial will be rewound and replayed from every conceivable angle.
Feedback from the players should be interesting. None of them enjoyed shivering through seven first-half stoppages.
By the time Llorente scored his second to make it 3-1, Son was ridiculing the system by incorporating the TV mime into his celebrations and referee Paul Tierney may have required de-icer to free his index finger from his earpiece.
It was a night to forget for Tierney, summed up when he tried in vain to make his white spray show up on a white pitch.
Spurs, in their white shirts, became increasingly camouflaged as the snow settled, and ground staff ran on with shovels to clear the lines during a break in play like a synchronised sequence from a ceremony at the Winter Olympics.
Signs had been there before kickoff when Wembley’s lines were painted blue only to find it did not work with the video technology.
So they were painted white again. Then, a paler blue as the officials sought the right shade. If only that had been the end of it.
In fact, there was a VAR intervention within six minutes to rule out a goal by erik Lamela for a foul by Llorente.
There was no protest from Rochdale and Llorente was merely competing for the ball with defender harrison McGahey but Tierney and his video assistant Graham Scott conferred — as they are obliged to do after all goals — and spotted an offence.
Suddenly there were appeals from players, managers and supporters for everything to be referred to the video referee.
When Lucas Moura tumbled under a challenge by McGahey, Pochettino was miming a television square with his hands for the benefit of fourth official Roger east.
Tierney jammed his finger into his ear again but this time there was no penalty, though three minutes later there was an actual goal which was allowed to stand.
Son collected a pass from Lamela, skipped past two challenges and curled a right-footer beyond Josh Lillis.
Just as order seemed restored, there was another VAR intervention and a free-kick for Spurs was upgraded to a penalty.
Matt Done had a hand on Kieran Trippier’s shoulder outside the penalty area but the full back summoned the strength to keep running until he was inside the box, whereupon he fell over.
The decision was amended after another conversation between Tierney and Scott. It was barely a foul but once ruled as an offence, the location became relevant.
Up stepped Son to score the penalty kick but this ‘goal’ was to be ruled out for an ‘illegal feint’ as he ran up to address the ball.
A feint in mid-run is not illegal but to feint at the very end of the run-up can be classed as unsportsmanlike conduct, which this was. Son was booked and Rochdale awarded a free-kick.
Pochettino shrugged in despair and his players, especially at the back, lost their focus, conceding an equaliser when humphrys accepted a fine pass from Cannon with an exquisite first touch that left Michel Vorm stranded and the goal open.
Cannon then thumped a low shot against a post and the second half might have been different had Rochdale been able to come out and protect a lead.
Instead, Spurs recovered their composure and took command with three goals by Llorente.
The first two were served up by Moura, the first a pass threaded through the defence which was clipped over Lillis, the second stabbed in from close range.
Llorente’s third was created by Son with a dribble through the penalty area and a chip on to his head. After two goals in seven barren months at Tottenham here were three in 12 minutes.
Son tapped the fifth into an open goal and Walker-Peters came on to score his first goal in senior football in stoppage-time, and Tottenham have an FA Cup quarter-final at Swansea. TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR (4-2-3-1): Vorm 6; Trippier 6, Foyth 5.5, Dier 5.5, Rose 6.5; Winks 6.5 (Dembele 62min, 6), Sissoko 6; Moura 7.5 (Walker-Peters 82), Lamela 6.5, Son 7.5 (Alli 67, 6); LLORENTE 8. Subs not used: Gazzaniga, Sanchez, Eriksen, Kane. Scorers: Son 23, 65, Llorente 47, 53, 59, Walker-Peters 90+3. Booked: Son, Foyth, Lamela. Manager: Mauricio Pochettino 7. ROCHDALE (3-5-2): Lillis 5; McGahey 5, McNulty 5, Delaney 5; Rafferty 5, Cannon 6.5 (Adshead 76), Camps 6, Kitching 6 (Thompson 64, 6) Done 5.5; Henderson 6, Humphrys 6.5 (Davies 58, 6). Subs not used: Moore, Ntlhe, Rathbone, Inman. Scorer: Humphrys 31. Booked: None. Manager: Keith Hill 6. Referee: Paul Tierney 4.5. Attendance: 24,627.