The use of VAR has come under intense scrutiny following the shocking decision made during Liverpool’s match against Tottenham last weekend, and Wolves manager Gary O’Neil admits he’s “more confused than I’ve ever been.”
The head coach believes that officials are making more errors and is concerned about their consistency.
VAR has been in the news again this week as Liverpool’s Luis Diaz was denied a goal in a 2-1 loss at Tottenham because to VAR Darren England’s mistaken belief that the on-field ruling was onside.
He mistakenly validated an offside call, causing play to restart before the error was discovered.
Wolves apologized in August after referee Simon Hooper failed to award a penalty after Andre Onana collided with Sasa Kalajdzic in their 1-0 loss at Manchester United.
They were also upset when Joao Gomes was penalized for handball in the 1-1 draw last month after the ball rebounded off his knee and hit his arm.
England manager Gareth Southgate believes the game was better before VAR, and O’Neil is equally concerned.
“It’s getting close to there now (being better before),” O’Neil added. I’ve been a strong supporter of VAR, and I believe it makes sense to assist the players in a game that moves as quickly as it does now.
“If I go by how I feel, I’m a little confused about where it is.” I’m not sure what’s going to happen next. I’ve been playing and coaching for a long time, and every now and then I’ll think to myself, ‘that’s unusual, I didn’t anticipate that to go that way.’
“I’m not saying my ideas are always correct, but I’m more perplexed than I’ve ever been.” It either has to be improved or, as I doubt anyone will choose, it should be scrapped and we should go back to where we started.
“I believe this season, more than last, there appear to be more errors.” I’m hoping the boys can fix things because I know they’re not doing it on purpose.
“They are not making mistakes because they want to. Hopefully, they can enhance the processes, similar to how you coach a team – things go wrong, and you search for ways to improve the processes.
“I hope they can fix it and get to a place where everyone understands it and see what’s coming next, which is where I’m a little bit lost.”
Wolves host Aston Villa on Sunday following their 2-1 win over Manchester City last weekend.
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde is still suspended, while Santi Bueno is nursing a hamstring injury, but Tommy Doyle is back after being ruled ineligible to play against parent club City.
“Winning a Premier League game, especially the first one at home, is obviously significant,” O’Neil remarked. The group has been working really hard; we were aware of how difficult the schedule was at the start of the season.”
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