Ange Postecoglou slammed VAR once more, despite it appearing to go his way when it disallowed an Everton goal in the second half of Tottenham’s 2-1 home win.
With Spurs 2-0 up through goals scored by Richarlison and Heung-min Son, Dominic Calvert-Lewin thought he had pulled a goal back for the Toffees, but referee Stuart Attwell went to the screen upon VAR’s recommendation and ruled it out for a foul which Andre Gomes had committed on Emerson Royal.
Everton did eventually make it 2-1 with Gomes’s fine strike, but Postecoglou gave his latest criticism of VAR after full-time, despite his side holding on to claim all three points.
Asked whether Everton’s disallowed goal showed that VAR had actually helped his side out, Postecoglou replied: “Why would it help us out? It was a foul. It didn’t help us out. I don’t like VAR. That’s part of the problem: people use that kind of terminology, that it ‘helps’ or it ‘goes against’.
“It’s a tool, it’s used, I still don’t like it. Did it help us? I don’t know if it helped us. If that goal stood, we might have scored a third. That’s the beauty of football. I’ve already said I don’t like the way VAR is being used; I didn’t like the way it was used today. I thought it was a foul, yeah. But the referee missed it and probably missed another foul as well. That’s part of the game, that’s part of football.”
Reflecting on a hard-fought victory, the Aussie said: “The result is very pleasing against a really difficult opponent. Everton have been the in-form team of the competition in the last few weeks, and you can see why today — they work hard.
“We started the game well. We got on top of them. After we got 2-0 ahead, we just eased back a little bit and I thought that just allowed them to get back into the game.
“A couple of outstanding saves from Vic [Guglielmo Vicario], who was brilliant again today. It had a little bit of everything — a different type of performance by us — but the pleasing thing is we got the three points.
“Sometimes you’ve just got to defend, and we did. Vic was outstanding today with brilliant saves. He’s been brilliant from day one for us, and we haven’t always needed him like we did today.
“Other times it’s one or two saves a game, if that, but he’s been important in our build-up and organisation. But today we needed his goalkeeping. It wasn’t just the saves he makes. They’re so strong from corners and put so much pressure on the goalkeeper, and I thought he stood up really well.”
Centre-back Cristian Romero was replaced by Eric Dier at half-time. Postecoglou revealed: “He felt tightness in his hamstring just before half-time, so we had to take him off.”
Victory ensured Tottenham stay fourth, heading into Christmas, and they are next in action on December 28 away to ninth-place Brighton.
