Troy Deeney says Nottingham Forest’s rejected penalty appeals in their controversial defeat to Everton show the need to improve the standard of refereeing in the Premier League.
The Reds were left furious at having three spot-kick shouts dismissed by referee Anthony Taylor during last month’s 2-0 loss at Goodison Park. And the release of the VAR audio from the third of those incidents will have done little to ease their frustration.
When Ashley Young, a defender for the Toffees, challenged Callum Hudson-Odoi, Taylor determined that Young had the ball. VAR Stuart Attwell, who saw a replay and called the event “a tussle,” did not send him to his monitor to evaluate it.
Pundit Deeney thinks the choice was incorrect. Additionally, he has supported Nuno Espirito Santo, the head coach of the Reds, in his request that referees handle more decisions on the field rather than depending solely on VAR.
“You listen to what Howard Webb (head of the Professional Game Match Officials Board) said about improving VAR and this, that, and the other,” Deeney stated on talkSPORT. Raise the bar for officiating.
“Anthony Taylor is incorrect on that.” It’s okay, he’ll acknowledge it. However, how can you have someone observe it and comment?
“We’ve all seen it. I think there’s definitely two (penalties). One is a bit questionable, the (Gio) Reyna one in the first half where Ash kicks the back of his foot.
“But the referees are going into this place where they just look after each other. They don’t go: ‘You got that wrong there, mate, go and have a look at it.’
“The on field decision now is: ‘I hope my mate looks after me, so I won’t really give too much and VAR will make sure that it happens.’
“But don’t worry too much about trying to make VAR work really well. We watched the Champions League game last night and how many times did you worry about the referee? Not once. The VAR never gets involved. It’s quick and seamless. But we seem to just mess it up all the time.”
Nuno said last week: “My personal feeling is about referees not taking decisions on the pitch. They were doing it before so they should do it again, and then comes VAR – not the other way around. The other way around is a huge mistake for the game.
“I can speak and tell my opinion and try to be honest. The general feeling in football is referees are not taking their own decisions so this is affecting a lot. They are not taking their decisions, and waiting for the VAR to intervene is not helping the situation. Referees are the authority on the pitch and then VAR should help. What we want is to move forward.”
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