Ange Postecoglou on the main'misconception' regarding VAR and the 'issue we fail to comprehend'

Ange Postecoglou, the head coach of Tottenham Hotspur, claims that the introduction of Video Assistant Referees (VAR) in an effort to achieve "errorless" refereeing in football has ultimately made the game more difficult.

The remarks follow the Professional Game Match Officials' (PGMO) confirmation that a "significant human error" occurred during Tottenham's 2-1 victory against Liverpool, when a shot by Luis Diaz was mistakenly disallowed for offside in the 34th minute.

Joel Matip's self-inflicted goal in the sixth minute of stoppage time gave Spurs a thrilling three points, continuing the hosts' strong start under new Australian head coach Ange Postecoglou.

Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota were both sent by referee Simon Hooper either side of halftime, but Liverpool was still miffed with the first-half decision to disallow a Diaz shot in the 34th minute.

At Stockley Park, Darren England quickly performed a VAR check and determined that Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah was offside after playing Diaz through and he rifled into the bottom corner.

When Son Heung-min prodded the ball home two minutes after the incident, it looked that Cristian Romero had played Diaz onside.

Cody Gakpo did manage to tie the score before halftime, but Matip's last-second own goal handed Jurgen Klopp's team their first Premier League loss of the year.

"PGMOL acknowledge a significant human error occurred during the first half of Tottenham Hotspur vs. Liverpool," stated a PGMOL statement.

"The on-field crew of match officials rejected Luis Diaz's goal because it was offside.

The goal should have been given by VAR intervention because of this blatant factual mistake, but the VAR chose not to step in.

"PGMOL will carry out a thorough investigation into the circumstances that gave rise to the error."

Tottenham moved into second position after the 2-1 defeat, joining North London rivals Arsenal as the only two undefeated clubs in the league.

After his team's most recent stoppage-time victory, Postecoglou was asked about the usage of VAR in football. He replied, "I guess I'm on record saying I've never really been a fan of it since it's come in.

Not for any other reason than the fact that it makes parts of the game that I previously believed to be rather simple, inherently complicated. However, I can also understand why it was inevitable that technology would enter the picture.

"The issue I believe we have, or the understanding we appear to lack, is that no amount of technology will make the game error-free.

"In the past, we were taught that mistakes, even those made by officials, were inevitable in sports. Some individuals understood it more quickly than others, but that was expected. 

The game is plagued with historically incorrect refereeing calls, but since we're all just human, we all accepted that this was the nature of the game.

"I think there's a misconception that VAR will be error-free. In reality, I don't think any technology can be error-free because so much of our game depends on interpretation, and since VAR officials are still human, they're bound to make mistakes just like managers and players do. 

"I believe that everything that is held to such a high standard will inevitably fail. It will never happen if people believe that VAR will one day be a great system.

After the game, the PGMOL statement was brought up to Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp, who said, "Who does that benefit now?

"In the Man United game (against Wolverhampton), we experienced that circumstance. Did that earn Wolves any points? No. It won't get us any points, thus it is of no use.

Nobody expects 100% correct choices to be made on the field, but I believe we all believed that when VAR is introduced, things may be made simpler. 

Are (the referees) really under that much pressure? Today, the choice was taken quickly to achieve that objective. So that's how it is; it altered the game's momentum. We scored the goal, and it was outstandingly well-played and really challenging. But the lads handled it really nicely.