Ange Postecoglou hit VAR again, although it seemed to go to his hand when it thwarted an Everton goal in the second half of Tottenham’s 2-1 home win.
After Spurs took a 2-0 lead through goals from Richarlison and Heung-Min Son, Dominic Calvert-Lewin thought he had pulled a goal back for the Toffees, but referee Stuart Attwell stepped in front of the screen on the recommendation of VAR and overturned it for a foul committed by Andre Gomes on Emerson Royal.
Everton eventually equalised at 2-1 with a fine goal from Gomes, but Postecoglou made his final criticism of VAR after full time, although his team held on to win all three points.
Asked whether Everton’s goal showed that VAR had actually helped his team, Postecoglou replied: “Why would it help us? It was a foul. It didn’t help us. I don’t like VAR. That’s part of the problem: people use that terminology, that it ‘helps’ or ‘goes against’.
‘ It is a tool that is used, but I still don’t like it. Did it help us? I don’t know if it has helped us. If that goal had counted, maybe we would have scored a third goal. That’s the beauty of football. I have already said that I do not like the way VAR is being used; I did not like the way it was used today either. I thought it was a foul, yes. But the referee missed it and he probably missed another foul. It’s part of the game, part of football.”
The Australian said of the hard-fought victory: “It’s a very satisfying result against a very tough opponent. Everton have been the best team in the competition over the last few weeks and today you could see why – they work hard.
“We started the game well. We got on top of them. When we were 2-0 up, we eased off a bit and I think that just allowed them to get back into the game.
“Vic [Guglielmo Vicario], who was great again today, made some outstanding defences. It was a little bit of everything – a different performance from us – but it’s pleasing that we got the three points.
“Sometimes you just have to defend, and that’s what we did. Vic was outstanding today and made some great saves. He’s been great since day one and we haven’t always needed him like we did today.
“Sometimes it’s one or two goals a game, if that, but he was important in our build-up and organisation. But today we needed his goalkeeping help. It wasn’t just about his defending. They are so strong from corners and they put so much pressure on the goalkeeper, but I think he positioned himself very well.”
Centre-back Cristian Romero was replaced by Eric Dier at half-time. Postecoglou revealed, “Just before half-time he felt a strain in his thigh, so we had to take him off.”
Tottenham’s win ensured they will stay in fourth place before Christmas and their next game is away to ninth-placed Brighton on 28 December.