Ange Postecoglou believes football's problems with VAR are "self-inflicted" as he warned against the impact it has had on the officiating of on-field referees.
After a dramatic weekend for the Premier League and VAR, in which Mikel Arteta hit out at "embarrassing" decisions in Arsenal's defeat to Newcastle, the officials were once again in the spotlight as Tottenham were beaten 4-1 at home to Chelsea.
Five goals were ruled out by a combination of the assistant referees and VAR, while three red card checks went unpunished and another saw Cristian Romero sent-off as Chelsea were awarded a penalty. Cole Palmer converted that, to level after Dejan Kulusevski's opener, before Destiny Udogie saw red too after the break and Nicolas Jackson scored a second-half hat-trick against nine-man Spurs.
There were 12 minutes added at the end of the first-half as a result of the various checks and delays, and nine more in the second period. Postecoglou was unhappy with the amount of waiting time while the decisions were made, but warned it has happened as a result of criticism of officials.
"I don't like it, it is the way the game is going," Postecoglou said.
"Some of it is self-inflicted because if we come out every week complaining about decisions that is what will happen, every decision gets forensically checked and we will be sitting around for a long time in every game trying to figure out what is going on."
He added: "That utopia where there are no wrong decisions in the game will never exist. It's our own fault as we complain about decisions every week.
"I guarantee the next thing is that we will hear referees mic'd up, there are plenty other sports where you can watch that."
Both Romero and Udogie escaped red cards after VAR checks in the opening stage before they were then dismissed later in the match, while narrow offside calls denied Heung-min Son and Eric Dier from getting on the scoresheet for Spurs.
Pressed on whether he was unhappy with either of the red cards, or the officiating as a whole, Postecoglou responded: "You have to accept the referee's decision, that is how I grew up.
"This constant erosion of the referee's authority is where the game is going to get - they are not going to have any authority. We are going to be under the control of someone with a TV screen a few miles away.
"The decision is the decision. In 26 years I have had plenty of bad decisions, I have had plenty fall in my favour. It is what it is."
