Ange Postecoglou thinks VAR stoppages may be causing injuries amid Spurs crisis

In his latest press conference going into the weekend’s game against Wolves, Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has lamented the amount of time spent on VAR stoppages during games these days, and the impact this can have on a player’s condition.

Tottenham were involved in a chaotic but highly entertaining London derby on Monday night as Chelsea came away from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with all three points in a 4-1 win.

The story of the night was not the scoreline, however, but the myriad disciplinary issues and disallowed goals that kept the match officials and VAR team busy on the night.

Red cards for both Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie changed the game entirely, while five disallowed goals (two for Spurs and three for Chelsea) ate up plenty of time as the VAR officials replayed the action and drew their lines.

Are VAR calls leading to injuries?

Overall, there were 21 minutes of added time throughout the game, and Ange Postecoglou is clearly not happy with the amount of delays, and even suggested they can contribute to injury issues for players like the one we saw with Micky van de Ven on Monday.

He told the press (via Football.London): “Absolutely [the stoppages lead to injury]. I am not going to draw a direct correlation to Micky’s injury but I was half-tempted to throw some balls out there for them to kick around.

“It’s the reason we have warm-ups but if you’re going into a game, the fact there was only 47 minutes of game time the other night in whatever it was, 110, that is not ideal for the type of athletes we have out there.”

Spurs Web Opinion

I have no issue with VAR in terms of them getting the right decision and reducing the lack of clear and obvious errors from the on-field officials, but the amount of time it’s taking is just not worth it at all.

There should be a time limit on the reviews, and if a clear decision can’t be made within that limit, then the referee’s initial call should stand so we can just move on.