Jose Mourinho says VAR is killing football as Spurs appeal Son Heung-min red card
Jose Mourinho says VAR is in danger of killing the 'best league in the world' as he confirmed that Tottenham have appealed the red card given to Son Heung-min in Sunday's 2-0 defeat by Chelsea.
The South Korean forward was sent off for violent conduct after appearing to retaliate against Antonio Rudiger, who subsequently reported racist abuse from the stands. And while Mourinho sympathised with Rudiger over the abuse, he accused the German defender of play-acting in order to get Son sent off, and believes it is Rudiger rather than Son who should face punishment. “I think the focus should be on Rudiger and not on Son,” he said.
Referee Anthony Taylor initially saw no offence when Rudiger went down clutching his ribs after tangling with Son, but the official was overruled by Video Assistant Referee Paul Tierney and the striker was dismissed.
Tierney had earlier reversed Taylor's decision not to award a penalty to Chelsea, and both Mourinho and Frank Lampard agreed with VAR's intervention in that instance. But the Tottenham manager said on Monday: “The situation with Son, I think Mr Tierney got it wrong. It's the wrong call. This is England, the Premier League, the best competition in the world, with characteristics that if we change them we are killing the best league in the world.
“Paul Tierney decides yes and Anthony Taylor, in real time, five metres from the situation, decided no (red card). So who was refereeing the game? Not Mr Taylor. It was Mr Tierney.
“VAR was supposed to support football, to bring truth to the spectacle. They did that with the penalty decision and they killed the game with Son's decision.”
It was the third time this year that Son has been sent off, although he successfully appealed one red card, and Mourinho believed it was an 'insignificant' reaction to being fouled by Rudiger. “When you do one insignificant foul, that's not a red card, it's a yellow card.”
If Tottenham's appeal is unsuccessful, they will lose Son for three games, starting with the visit of Brighton on Boxing Day. Mourinho has now lost three games since taking over from Mauricio Pochettino, and says the club's defensive problems go back to long before his arrival.
He says he can fix them given time, or even sooner if he sacrifices Tottenham's natural attacking instincts, but suggests he does not want to do that. “I know how to fix it. But to do it 100 per cent I'm going to take away from the team some qualities that we want to keep.
“It is not difficult to put all the focus on a clean sheet, on improving defensive organisation and trying to kill mistakes. But with the players we have, and their habit, the difficult thing is to to put it right defensively without losing the qualities that we can have offensively. So we need time.”
