Chelsea head coach, Mauricio Pochettino, has expressed frustration with the Video Assistant Referee otherwise known as VAR, stating that it is damaging English football.
Pochettino expressed his frustration while speaking with TNT Sports in his post-match speech.
His remarks came after Chelsea was denied an injury-time winner at Aston Villa during their Premier League clash on Saturday night.
Despite overturning a 2-0 halftime deficit and scoring what seemed to be a winning goal through Axel Disasi’s header, the goal was disallowed for a foul on Diego Carlos in the build-up.
The decision, made after referee Craig Pawson consulted the pitchside monitor following advice from VAR Christopher Kavanagh, has sparked renewed scrutiny of the VAR system.
This incident follows criticism from Nottingham Forest, who accused VAR Stuart Attwell of bias for not intervening in three penalty decisions.
“Everyone that was watching the game will feel disappointed,” Pochettino said
“Two different things the referee said it was a foul and disallowed the goal and then going to the VAR to confirm.
“The referee is unbelievable and it’s ridiculous. It is difficult to accept, these type of things in the semi-final [FA Cup against Man City] two weeks ago it was handball and it was no penalty, the referee he didn’t check it.
“It is painful as it has damaged English football and I think Villa players and their fans didn’t understand why the goal was disallowed.
“They said it was foul and if you see the challenge what happened if we go into every single challenge like this it is going to be a foul and we wouldn’t finish the game with 11 [players].
“We can talk about the performance or the decision – it is damaging the game.
“I am calm and it is only to help. Now, we have to move on and it will be in the headlines with the disallowed goal.”
Four days after their 5-0 defeat to Arsenal, Chelsea faced another challenging evening as they fell behind 2-0 to Aston Villa at half-time, with Marc Cucurella’s own goal and Morgan Rogers’ strike putting Villa in control.
However, Chelsea fought back in the second half, with goals from Noni Madueke and Conor Gallagher leveling the score before the late drama unfolded.
Despite surrendering a two-goal lead, Villa will view this as a valuable point, especially considering their fatigue and below-par performance.
With this draw, Villa extended their lead over fifth-placed Tottenham to seven points in the race for Champions League qualification, although Spurs have three games in hand.
Unai Emery’s side, dealing with a growing injury list and a Europa Conference League semi-final, are still favored for a top-four finish, especially with fixtures against Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester City remaining.
Their injury concerns deepened as goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was forced off at half-time with a hamstring problem, and Youri Tielemans also limped off with a groin injury.
Emery said, “Tomorrow we will test him (Martinez). And with the injury with Tielemans, we will wait for tomorrow. Hopefully not a lot.
“Martinez is very important – that’s clear. He saves us a lot. But Robin (Olsen) saved us in minute 90 in a man-on-man against (Cole) Palmer.
“We are very happy, even with the point we achieved today. Our way is to be consistent. And 35 matches with 67 points. Analysing the match, of course, for Chelsea were contenders to be in the top four, to have the difference we have in the table is good.”
