Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has spent much of this season harshly criticizing Premier League referees, so it’s only natural that he would also slam the Premier League’s decision on Video Assistant Referee (VAR). Wenger was irate after his side were denied a potential penalty for a handball during the first half of their loss at Newcastle United.
The 2-1 result marked the Gunners fifth straight league defeat away from home. The Gunners now sit 13 points outside the top four. In his post match news conference, Wenger ripped the league’s decision not to go with VAR as “very, very bad” and as a move that will cause the league to fall behind other leagues in the world.
“The referee is the referee. What you want is to help the referees,” Wenger said.
“Unfortunately the Premier League has again decided not to go for VAR and personally I believe that is a very, very bad decision,”
“The Premier League has been created with people who had a progressive mind and wanted to be in front of the rest in Europe. It worked,” he continued.
“Overall I believe that with that decision (to not adopt VAR in the future) we are behind the rest in the world and that every big game this season has been decided by mistakes that could have been avoided with VAR, especially in the Champions League with Manchester City and Liverpool.
“The young generation is used to (having VAR) and worldwide they might move away from us because they see that in other countries they do it.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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