Benitez makes case for VAR - 10 times
RAFA Benitez mentioned VAR a whopping 10 times during his post-match press conference at St James’ Park.
The Spaniard was furious after two major decisions cost his side a point during the 2-1 loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tyneside.
Benitez felt Willy Boly’s elbow into the face of Ayoze Perez, plus DeAndre Yedlin’s borderline red card, offer concrete evidence the Premier League needs to bring VAR straight away not next season.
The Toon boss made 10 references to either VAR or a TV replay in his post-game media call.
Indeed, whichever way journalists tried to take the story, he took them back to VAR.
He said: “Losing is always something that you do not expect, but in a game you were controlling and we were doing enough at least to create chances and have the possibility to win the game, then you see these incidents, the red card and, after it, the elbow in the face of Perez - that is a penalty and a red card.
“The summary is you lose three points and you see the table and you have to keep fighting in very difficult circumstances.”
When asked about Boly’s elbow, Benitez added: “I saw the replay and we need VAR right now.”
The Spaniard was hit by a huge fine earlier in the season when praising Andre Marriner after the official was criticised following comments from Wilfried Zaha two months ago.
The United boss was asked about Perez’s displeasure after the game following a tunnel row.
Benitez admitted he feels let down by referees this term.
He said: “You can see the
replay. I was praising the referees after a player was talking and they fined me.
“Imagine how I feel now. You can see the two incidents in the video. It was unbelievable.”
Benitez then moved on to the incident which saw DeAndre Yedlin sent off for tugging back Diogo Jota.
He added: “When you have a player on the corner of the box with the ball two or three metres away, he was pulling DeAndre, DeAndre was pulling him and Lascelles was close enough.
“I cannot believe every time he touched the ball he would put the ball in the top corner and it is a clear chance of goal.
“When a team is fighting for survival and then you see this kind of situation i tis very difficult to explain to our fans and everyone, ‘We did that’ or ‘We have to do this’ or ‘We have to do that.’ It’s very difficult.”
Benitez was also asked whether the game should have been stopped after Perez received a head injury.
He said: “Yes. It was an elbow in the face, he was bleeding – it was so obvious.
“You can see the replay and see the face of the player and what happened. Anyone can see that, so we need VAR.”
One journalist followed up by asking if there would definitely be a different outcome had a video replay been available, Benitez replied: “100%.”