A. Postecoglou replaces constantly criticized referees after the first defeat

2023-11-07 08:54 © AFP

On Monday in the London derby between Tottenham and Chelsea, there was no shortage of tension and VAR interventions.

After VAR reviews, three goals were disallowed and Tottenham defender Cristian Romero was sent off. Eventually, Destiny Udogie also received a second yellow card, leaving Tottenham with a two-player deficit.

Despite this, Tottenham continued to press high against their opponents and held the scoreline level for a long time, however, Chelsea eventually capitalized on their numerical advantage and triumphed with a score of 4:1.

Lately, English Premier League referees have faced increasing criticism, especially after Mikel Arteta's comments following Saturday's loss to Newcastle United.

In contrast, Tottenham coach Ange Postecoglou reacted differently to unfavorable decisions concerning his team, even criticizing other coaches who criticized the referees' work.

"Decisions are just decisions. We can either accept them or not.

Coaches, including myself, often comment on certain decisions, which ultimately leads to what we saw in these matches, where every episode was analyzed like a scientific study.

Unfortunately, football is heading in that direction. I don't like it because it seemed that in these matches most of the time was spent just waiting for VAR decisions.

We just have to accept the referees' decisions. If we continue to undermine the referees' authority, eventually all decisions will be made by someone sitting in front of a TV screen.

You can tell me that referees are still responsible for match control, but that's not true. Someone who isn't even in the stadium makes the decisions," said A. Postecoglou.

"Coaches in the Premier League should just do their job. I personally never argue with referees about football rules. I was always taught to respect referees.

Current coaches are just trying to bypass the rules. I guarantee you that most coaches would find a way to bypass any football rule.

I want the highest quality referees in the matches, but their job is incredibly difficult these days. Their authority is also too often undermined.

I always aim for my team to play quick, attacking football. Did we get a red card? So what? We have to adapt and continue to demonstrate our style of play. But now we just wait a few minutes to decide if someone was slightly offside. Let the assistant referee make the decision. In the past, if there were doubts, the attacking player would get the advantage and everyone was fine with that," added the Tottenham coach.