“They are damaging English football” — Pochettino

Chelsea’s manager, Mauricio Pochettino, expressed vehement criticism towards the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system following Chelsea’s 2-2 draw against Aston Villa on Saturday.

The Blues found themselves trailing by two goals in the first half but managed to stage a comeback, leveling the score in the second half.

Axel Disasi believed he had secured the winning goal with a header, only for VAR to intervene and disallow the goal. This decision ultimately left Chelsea settling for a draw. With this result, Chelsea currently sits in 9th place in the Premier League standings with 48 points.

In a post-match statement, Pochettino stated,

“Two different things: the referee said it was a foul and disallowed the goal and then went to the VAR to confirm. The referee is unbelievable and it’s ridiculous. It is difficult to accept these types of things.”

He went on to reference previous contentious VAR decisions, including one in the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City, which further fueled his frustration.

Pochettino lamented the impact of such decisions on English football, suggesting that both Aston Villa players and their fans were left perplexed by the disallowed goal.

He argued against the consistency and application of the VAR system, suggesting that overly cautious refereeing could impede the flow of the game.