The Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has been very outspoken in his criticism of the performance of referees lately, especially after Mike Dean’s appalling decision on New Years Eve as well as other incidents this season.
There have been many discussions about introducing VAR (Video Assistant Referees) into the Premier League, and Arsene Wenger is keen on the idea, as long as it doesn’t actually slow down the pace of the game. The boss told Arsenal.com: “It’s inevitable because the referee can get help and become more efficient – and he can gain time, contrary to what people say.
“Of course, if we go the way where the referee walks down the side of the pitch and watches a screen, I say, ‘Leave it at home’. That means, ‘I just want to make every single decision. I want to be the boss’. [In that case] let’s forget it because that is not serious, and not the way we want to see the game going. If somebody upstairs quicker than he does tells him, ‘Go, let it go,’ that’s what we want. It’s not that he walks down the side of the pitch and watches a screen, and the people in the stand freeze up there until he has made a decision. That’s not what we want. If it’s [like] that, I personally am against it.”
The question is; Would Mike Dean have listened to an outside observer and not given the penalty last week? There will have to be indepth discussion about who is given the final decision, the man on the pitch or the man with the cameras.
What do you think?
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