Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou has told SFA chiefs they must speed up VAR or face ruining the beautiful game for punters.
The Parkhead boss was emotive after his team's thrilling 4-2 win over Dundee United as Kyogo and Liel Abada netted in added time to secure all three points and open up a seven-point gap atop the Scottish Premiership table. But the high drama wasn't kept in reserve for the pulsating final exchanges after Dylan Levitt appeared to have earned the visitors a shock draw. The decision to award United a first half penalty for a handball on Alexandro Bernabei was met with incredulity from supporters - and a section of pundits - who vented against the decision for referee David Dickinson to point to the spot after consulting with VAR.
And Postecoglou pulled no punches as he had his say on the technology with a loaded reminder which referenced Celtic 's non-call against Hearts a fortnight ago. Speaking on BBC Sportsound, the 57-year-old said: "I just think the way it looks, apart from if we're playing Hearts away, it hits your hand in the box it's a penalty. I don't even know why they bother with natural, unnatural, Berna wasn't even looking at the ball, how is he to know his arm is in an unnatural position? It basically means if the ball hits your hand in the box it's a penalty. If that's the way they want to define it.
"It will change the game, the way people defend, you will literally stop trying to put your body in the line of the ball because any sort of contact is going to be a penalty."
When quizzed if the decisions made by the match officials were in line with his understanding of the current rules and protocols, he added: "Well, no, but that's the way it is being interpreted. That's three instances in two games, in at least two of the occasions the guys have not even known the ball is on its way. If someone can explain to how Berna is going for a header, the ball has gone behind him and it's hit him on the arm, in the air, adjust his position to let that ball go then......
"It is what it is, I said before the game, it's just the rules of game. I just think VAR has thrown the cat among the pigeons of the rules we always knew and understood, all of a sudden changing on a weekly basis."
When asked about how the recent awards against his team compare to the on-call on Michael Smith at Tynecastle, he said: "That's what I mean....part of me says, alright, I guess that is something they need to clarify, why one is handball and one is not, the crazy thing about the one at Tynecastle was the referee wasn't even asked to go and look at it. It his hand. I am sure there is an explanation out there somewhere.
"My frustration is not with VAR or the officials, I actually felt for the officials today, it's just taking too long. If they think the ball hit Bernabei's hand, they can see that on the first replay, why are we taking three minutes to make that decision? I don't understand it. My frustration is we are trying to play football that's entertaining, our fans want to see the team, our players want to play the game.
"The incident with Giakoumakis, the referee hasn't even blown for a foul and we're checking for a possible red card. How long does it take when the referee hasn't even seen a foul. For me, I don't think it's a red card, that's fine, away we go, we move on! I think the people in charge need to understand, it's affecting games, gameflows, not the outcome because we have won today. I can walk away and it didn't affect us. At some point it is going to start affecting games and outcomes. That's not what VAR is for."
