Tottenham will take a slender lead into the second leg of the Carabao Cup semifinal in Stamford Bridge next week, after overcoming the Blues 1-0 courtesy of a Harry Kane penalty.
Kane was bought down by Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga after a ball over the top of Chelsea’s defence saw him through on goal, but the England striker was adjudged to have been offside.
The match official Michael Oliver consulted the Video Assistant Referee who overruled the offside call and gave Spurs a penalty, which Harry Kane dispatched with typical ease. The replays showed that Chelsea full-back César Azpilicueta was playing Kane onside and thus VAR proved pivotal in reaching the right decision.
However, despite VAR ensuring that his side wasn’t denied a clear penalty, Pochettino insisted in his post-match press conference that he still wasn’t a fan of the technology.
Speaking to Football.London, the Argentine said, “To be honest, I am not happy with that system, it is a system that we still need to be agreed in the way we are going to use it. I think a good example is La Liga, no one is happy because no one knows the clear way we are going to use.”
“Everyone is complaining in Spain from day one and I hope that now we have time to develop that system, we need to work a lot, we need to agree between of course players, coaching staff and referee. It needs to be a tool to improve the game.”
Pochettino further said that VAR kills the emotions that the game generates and causes too many delays.
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He added, “Football, you know, sometimes we cannot talk about football that must be fair because different games, for example, today maybe Chelsea shoot more than Tottenham but to talk about fair or unfair it is about the decision of the referee, sometimes they can make a mistake like we make a mistake or the players on the pitch, but of course it is a system that sometimes killed the emotions.”
“Of course today it was an advantage for us, a good decision for Tottenham, but I didn’t celebrate because we were waiting five minutes. People may say ‘this guy is crazy’ but I tell you and I get the benefit if I am in the wrong way when it doesn’t benefit us it is easy to complain but today I need to be clear and honest and I am not happy all too much.”
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