Poor VAR calls won’t stop us, vows O’Riley
MATT O’RILEY last night insisted that no amount of dodgy VAR calls will stop Celtic from powering towards the title.
The Parkhead midfielder was stumped by whistler David Munro’s decision — upheld by video assistant referee Euan Anderson — to award Ross County a penalty early in the second half of his side’s 2-1 home win yesterday when the ball shot up off the turf and struck his arm.
David Cancola gave the Staggies the lead from the spot, but Ange Postecoglou’s men fought back to win through goals from David Turnbull and Sead Haksabanovic.
Celtic are already on the warpath over VAR and demanding answers from the SFA over a handball from Hearts’ defender Michael Smith in a 4-3 win at Tynecastle that was deemed not to be a penalty and a goal from Jota at Fir Park on Wednesday that was chalked off for offside after being missed by one of the camera operators.
O’Riley has been surprised by those decisions, but insists his
team-mates won’t let anyone put obstacles in their way as they bid to build on a ninepoint gap at the top of the Premiership going into the World Cup break.
‘I do not know what I really could have done, to be honest,’ O’Riley told Celtic TV. ‘My hands are by my side.
‘I do not know if the ball hit my hip, then my arm or my arm first, but I do not know where else I could put my arm.
‘We have had some strange decisions go against us recently, to say the least, but they still can’t stop us.’
Manager Postecoglou, meanwhile, insists he will no longer be talking about VAR, having expressed doubts over it being introduced to Scottish football when the authorities have admitted to there being teething problems.
‘Look, I’ve already said that me talking about it the last two weeks has done a disservice to my football club,’ stated Postecoglou. ‘It’s best I don’t really talk about it any more.
‘The only way they were going to score today was a penalty and they got it, so, from our perspective, we just have to make sure we score more goals than the opposition.’
County boss Malky Mackay has admitted he didn’t think it was going to be a penalty-kick as O’Riley’s handball was reviewed, but has insisted VAR will serve the game here well in time.
‘Ange was remonstrating and I actually said at the time: “I’m not sure this is going to be a penalty anyway”. So, I wasn’t getting too excited about it,’ he said.
‘It is clear in England, after a number of years, that it’s gone up from 83 to 98 per cent in terms of the accuracy of decisions.
‘There’s always going to be subjective ones. We have had a couple against us already. You swallow it and get on with it, but I was in at the VAR centre two weeks ago and, having seen what it is that they are actually going through, it is going to take a bit of time and it is going to be better for Scottish football.
‘Nobody will be patient because it’s good for debate and it’s good for
everything else that goes on, but we need to have patience inside the game.’
Mackay reckons it is the actual handball rule as stated by IFAB that is causing so many problems rather than VAR.
‘I think you see that everywhere,’ he said. ‘You saw it with Celtic and Real Madrid the other week. We are all going: “Matt O’Riley’s one (against Real) was never a handball”.
‘You are talking about the rulemakers at the very, very top level. That handball one is the one that is causing the most issues. That’s the one that seems to be very, very subjective at the moment.’
Postecoglou claims he is not focusing on the yawning gap opening up between his side and second-placed Rangers and revealed that he expects his side to come back much stronger after the break.
‘Where we are in terms of points in relation to other clubs is not the important bit. It is how we are performing and how we are dealing with things, the challenges,’ he said.
‘We are going to see a lot of growth when the league resumes in our players after what they have been through.
They are going to come out of this much better footballers.
‘I am just really proud of the players. They are an outstanding group. The quality is there, but the strength of character is just outstanding.’