RIDICULOUS, CONFUSING NONSENSE
THE PLAYER’S VERDICT: TOTTENHAM DEFENDER DANNY ROSE
DANNY ROSE has branded VAR “ridiculous” and a “complete nonsense” after farcical scenes during Tottenham’s FA Cup replay win over Rochdale.
Referee Paul Tierney used video technology to check five of the seven goals scored.
And he disallowed an Erik Lamela goal after video assistant ref Graham Scott flagged up a petty infringement.
The decision-making was painfully slow – more than five minutes were added on in the first half – and the Wembley crowd were left in the dark in the snow.
Freezing fans booed at half-time to give their verdict on the VAR trial in this season’s FA Cup.
And England left-back Rose said the players shared the frustration of the supporters and the TV audience.
“It’s a complete nonsense, if you ask me, waiting around for, I don’t know how many minutes, to get a decision – and not knowing what’s going on,” he said.
“It’s ridiculous. We got the job done under shambolic circumstances.
“It was minus-four outside and it was an absolute disgrace – VAR just ruined it.
“It was very frustrating and confusing more than anything. And that just overshadowed a good performance by both us and Rochdale.
“There’s no word to describe it, except frustrating, even though we won 6-1. I have had a few messages from friends saying VAR is a shambles.
“It’s been the same in every round that it’s been used.
“How can you go from a free-flowing football game for 90 minutes to stopping for one or two minutes for a decision? I feel for Rochdale – some of their players said it was their first time at Wembley and that’s been completely overshadowed.
“It could have been a nice occasion for them. Honestly, I have no idea how to improve it, but what I experienced was not good at all.”
Fernando Llorente’s first Tottenham hat-trick was also relegated to a side-issue because of the performances of the officials. Tierney had to upgrade a free-kick to a penalty after Kieran Trippier was fouled. Then he booked Son Heung-min for stopping in his spot-kick run-up without needing to refer to technology.
But the South Korean, who cheekily made the VAR sign after scoring the opening goal, said: “Honestly, with this VAR thing, the communication between the referee and players is wrong.
“We don’t understand what’s going on and why. It’s a problem.”
The International Board will meet in Zurich tomorrow to discuss increasing the use of VAR.
Banned former FIFA president Sepp Blatter tweeted: “A personal appeal to IFAB the Guardians of the Laws of the Game: FIFA World Cup cannot be used as experiment for such a fundamental change: VAR.”