Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Pochettino: Intense scrutiny bad for game
MAURICIO Pochettino has warned that intense scrutiny of decisions in football could eventually “kill” the sport.
The Tottenham manager saw his side draw 2-2 at Liverpool on Sunday in a match riddled with contentious calls from ref Jon Moss.
Spurs were awarded t wo penalties which have been the source of fierce debate in the past two days, and Dele Alli was also booked for diving.
While Pochettino felt all three calls were correct, Liverpool counterpart Jurgen Klopp was left fuming as his side were pegged back in stoppage time when Harry Kane converted — having missed the first time around.
The visitors’ performance and fightback at Anfield has subsequently been largely overlooked as the decisions of the officials are analysed with a fine tooth comb and Pochettino believes paying so much attention to such issues takes away from the essence of the game.
“Football is a creative sport, in which you need the talent, that grows in a very intelligent person, a very smart brain,” he said.
“And now we are so focused on minimal details. I don’t know. I am worried that in a few years, if the sport we love now (will still be) a passionate sport the people love to watch around the world.
“If we are not pushing that sport into a very rigid structure — with the VAR, with being focused too much on the small actions like this. To stop the game, to punish people that, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, it was like all congratulate the player when he tricks the referee. If you remember the football 30 years ago.
“That is the football that I was in love with when I was a child. Football is about trying to trick your opponent. You know? Yes or no? Tactic — what does tactic mean?
“When you do some tactics it is to try to trick the opponent. You say, ‘Oh I play on the right but I’m going to finish on the left’. It’s a mix that I am worried that maybe we are going to kill the game. We love this game.”
Pochettino conceded Alli deserved his caution for diving but said such incidents should be moved on from rather than become major talking points.
“During different games, a lot of situations like this happen,” he said. “But in the end, it was clear. It was a yellow card, the referee was right and perfect. It was a yellow card and nothing else.
“It’s too much sometimes. There is such a focus on this type of situation.
Spurs take on Newport in an FA Cup fourth-round replay tonight.