Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has called on VAR to be simplified after the costly Liverpool goal blunder.
Due to a mistake by VAR operator Darren England, Liverpool should have scored the first goal in their 2-1 loss at Tottenham last weekend.
The defenders on the pitch thought Luis Diaz’s shot was onside, but England thought they had made an onside call.
England confirmed that Diaz was onside before realising that he had given the go-ahead for the game to restart with the goal ruled out because of the confusion.
The Argentine manager likes the technology, but he would like to see it made easier to use.
“I trust in the VAR and how we manage the VAR. I trust in the car but the driver? That is the problem,” he said on Friday.
“For me it is about simplifying the situation. After many years seeing how things work, the most important is to return and give the power more to the referee.”
But Pochettino would rather the referee and his assistants make all other decisions on the pitch. He wants VAR to check offside and goal-line calls.
“Offside and goal-line decisions, they are the only two to keep (for VAR),” he said.
“Trust in the referee because at the moment we are not happy with VAR, we are not happy with the people that manage the VAR, but worse is we are not happy with the referee and that is the problem.
“We need to think a little bit in the future. Maybe one step back, maybe make things easier and more clear.”
Ange Postecoglou, the manager of Tottenham, admitted on Friday that the mistake meant Liverpool didn’t get a “legitimate goal.”
The Professional Game Match Officials Limited, which represents referees, said it was a “significant human error.” Jurgen Klopp, the manager of Liverpool, said a replay was the fairest solution.
The people in charge of the Premier League aren’t thinking about a replay, but Postecoglou did say that his team got lucky.
“The facts of it are that it was a legitimate goal Liverpool scored that wasn’t given,” the Australian said.
“You kind of look at why it’s not given because that’s the first thing you question: obviously something has broken down.
“It became clear it wasn’t an integrity issue. It wasn’t a misappropriation of the law. It was an error in communication, a mistake, a mistake which cost Liverpool.”
Postecoglou also asked people to be understanding of England, which gets a lot of bad press.
“It’s a significant error but it’s a human being that’s made that error,” he said.
“I don’t think that there’s anything that needs to go too far-reaching.”
