“They have to learn to use the VAR in the right way”- Tottenham’s Antonio Conte takes a dig at Premier League
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Antonio Conte
Following Tottenham’s penalty decision being overturned in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with West Ham, Antonio Conte asserts that English football “must learn to use VAR the proper way.”
At the start of the match at London Stadium, Harry Kane’s downward header clipped Aaron Cresswell’s arm, prompting referee Peter Bankes to award Tottenham a penalty. After a four-minute VAR review, Bankes was told to watch the event on the pitchside monitor and determined the ball had accidentally hit Cresswell’s arm.
Though Thilo Kehrer’s own-goal conversion of Harry Kane‘s delivery gave Conte’s team the lead just before halftime, he was incensed by the decision. At that moment, Spurs was poised to set a club record by earning 13 points from their first five Premier League games, but West Ham came back.
Michail Antonio flicked the ball into the path of Tomas Soucek to fire in an equaliser for the hosts, who appeared the more likely to win the match in the remaining 35 minutes. For only the third time ever, Tottenham has gone five games in a row without losing in the Premier League, but Conte was not pleased and he criticised the referees after the game.
“Honestly, at the end of the first half, I spoke with the referee and told him ‘you have taken the right decision’,” Conte told the sources.
“It’s incredible that VAR looked again and called the referee. The referee can see it was the right decision and the call from VAR was strange.
“I can tell only that the referee has taken the right decision. Usually the VAR calls when the call is not right.
“In England they have to learn to use the VAR in the right way. You have to study very well and be more accurate.
“If there’s VAR, you have to utilise it in the right way or accept the decision of the referee. If you have a TV, you have time to see. It’s difficult not only for me but every coach.”
Antonio Conte explains why he is upset
Elaborating on his comments at his post-match news conference, Conte said: “It’s difficult to explain as you know very well that I don’t like to comment on refereeing decisions.
“I’ve never done this in England. But today I like to comment on the decision because it was the right one.
“With a smile I told the referee you’ve taken the right decision. For sure VAR embarrassed the referee because to make him change the right decision was really, really strange.”
Tottenham finished the game with an expected goals return of 0.6 compared to 1.3 for West Ham, making them winless in their last three league visits to London Stadium. While upset with VAR, head coach Conte accepts his side could have done more to see out the victory.
“Without the penalty, we still went 1-0 up. In my opinion maybe we can do better to kill the game,” he said.
“If you stay and you keep your opponent in the game it can happen a corner, a throw-in, a free-kick, and especially against West Ham you can pay and we paid.
“I think we have to learn for next time, for the future. We are going step by step. I think that the team today showed also to be strong and to be difficult to play against.
“But at the same time, when you have the opportunity to get three points, you have to get three points.”
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Ujan Chakraborty
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