‘VAR made a dramatic mistake’ – Ex-Spurs Scout: Three things I learned from Tottenham defeat against Chelsea
Tottenham News is delighted to welcome aboard our brilliant new columnist Bryan King, the former goalkeeper who spent six years as a senior scout at Spurs and 28 years in total in first-team scouting roles. Bryan also spent eight years on Everton’s recruitment team and 11 years scouting at Aston Villa across two different spells.
Nine-man Tottenham saw their Premier League unbeaten run come crashing down as Chelsea ran out 4-1 winners at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Monday 6 November.
Former Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino inflicted a first Premier League defeat on Ange Postecoglou, however, it was certainly not a game short of drama and talking points.
The home side saw both Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie sent off and lost key players James Maddison and Micky van de Ven to injury, all things which Chelsea were able to capitalize on by scoring three second-half goals to seal the win after initially going 1-0 down inside the sixth minute.
Ex-Spurs scout Bryan King was watching on for Tottenham News and detailed three things he learned from the defeat.
Tottenham can still be proud regardless of the result
If Son Heung-min’s goal had stood to make it 2-0, I believe it could have finished 5-0 to Tottenham, without a shadow of a doubt. The way Spurs were playing in the first 20-25 minutes of the game was unbelievable, it was magical to watch.
Tottenham were in complete control of the match and were causing Chelsea big problems. Reece James was probably relieved Brennan Johnson had to go off because he was running him ragged. It was a great ball by Pape Matar Sarr to play Dejan Kulusevski in and they tell defenders to never turn their back, well that is exactly what Levi Colwill did, it caused the deflection and it led to the goal to put Spurs 1-0 up.
In the build-up to the second goal which was disallowed, it really was brilliant football, but it wasn’t to count and then the game went into this mad period which changed everything. Even when Eric Dier scored and it was disallowed, had that goal stood to make it 2-2 I still think Tottenham could have gone on to win the game.
Son Heung-min and Rodrigo Bentancur both had great chances toward the end as well. I thought Tottenham fought very bravely and gave Chelsea a game as best they could. Any team with nine men that can create two good chances should hold their heads high.
VAR running the show
Son’s goal was so tight, it could have as easily been onside as it was offside, we are talking about such fine margins here, fingernails almost. If he was a yard or two offside then fine, but these are such hairline decisions and some they get right, but some they get wrong, and I think disallowing Son’s goal was a dramatic mistake, I think it should have stood.
Unfortunately, VAR is disturbing a normal 90-minute game of football dramatically. I am not sure how long the game was stopped for to do those checks but imagine what it feels like for the players on the pitch. Frustration was being built into the game by all these stops and decisions.
As good as VAR could be, it is making a farce of a football match. Every game something is happening where it is being questioned, and it is stopping the flow of games. I am not a referee and I have never wanted to be, but I know the rules of the game and I know the laws of the game, and I don’t know how these people can not see decisions which are staring them in the face. Why does it take them three or four minutes?
It is taking away from the football that is being played on the pitch.
Ange Postecoglou will now need to change his style
Picking the team for Saturday is going to be very tough. There will be no Destiny Udogie, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven or James Maddison. Any team losing four of its best players would be forced to make some serious adjustments.
Both defenders have got pace and neither of them are going to be available, so that will make things very tough considering the way Tottenham play and I can’t see how he can play that high line without those players. However, Ange Postecoglou said after the game that even if he has five players on the pitch he will still go for goal, well that is all well and good if you’re managing Celtic and you’re playing Ross County next week, but this is the Premier League.
It will be tough at Wolves, they are a difficult side to play away from home.
In other Tottenham news, the women’s team also experienced a frustrating weekend as the goals dried up for Robert Vilahamn’s side.