Howe puts blame on VAR after disallowed goals turn the game in Burnley’s favour
Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe could not contain his frustration at VAR after a potentially crucial three points turned into a dispiriting defeat thanks to television replays.
His team had two goals disallowed and, worse still, the second one was overturned in favour of a Burnley penalty that ultimately sealed their fate.
“It was so difficult for the players,” he said. “It was almost a three-goal swing against us and it was too much. I don’t blame referee Mike Dean. I blame the process of VAR. Someone nowhere near Burnley decided the game.”
Josh King thought he had put Bournemouth in front midway through the first half only for TV official Chris Kavanagh to disallow it for handball after the ball was knocked into King’s path via the shoulder of Philip Billing.
“I defy anyone to say that was handball,” Howe moaned.
Then, after Matej Vydra had put Burnley ahead, the visitors thought they had equalised as Harry Wilson finished off a nice counter-attack. Instead, replays went back to an incident involving Adam Smith at the other end as he tried to deal with Charlie Taylor’s cross, and was penalised for handball, which referee Dean had initially turned down. So from a potential 1-1, Jay Rodriguez stepped up to convert the spot kick and all but secure Burnley’s win. “It’s got to be clear and obvious,” said Howe. “The double whammy from our perspective is we went and scored. The referee made the decision it wasn’t a penalty. That’s his call to make, surely? It’s grey, it’s not clear.”
It was all too much for his goalkeeping coach, Neil Moss, who was sent to the stand as frustrations boiled over.
And while pleased to take the three points, even Burnley manager Sean Dyche had sympathy for Howe. “It was a strange day for VAR,” he admitted. “That is probably the toughest scenario to take and one that won’t happen many times when you think you’ve scored, then you concede a goal at the other end.”
It all added up to an eighth defeat in their past nine away matches for Bournemouth, who remain just two points above the bottom three.
The goalkeepers stole the first-half show with Burnley’s Nick Pope saving from Callum and Harry Wilson and Aaron Ramsdale twice denying Vydra.
But it was the Czech striker who opened the scoring eight minutes after the interval as he beat the offside trap.
Once Rodriguez had made it 2-0, the game was up and Dwight McNeil fired
No 3 from outside the box. “I’ve no doubt if Dwight carries on working as he is, carries on smiling and gets his shoulders back a little more, he can be a top player,” said Dyche whose team now sit eighth in the table, three points behind fifth-placed Tottenham.