West Ham boss David Moyes says managers’ VAR complaints are falling on deaf ears within football’s corridors of power - and believes people only take notice when blunders affect the biggest clubs.
Premier League officials are under heavy scrutiny heading into this weekend’s matches following a series of high-profile controversies. Liverpool were denied a legitimate goal during their defeat at Tottenham earlier this season due to an offside mix-up, while a Premier League panel has since confirmed that officials had messed up in in failing to send off both Kai Havertz and Bruno Guimaraes during last weekend’s meeting between Arsenal and Newcastle.
LMA chief Richard Bevan has also revealed that top-flight managers are pushing for yet another overhaul of the VAR process but Moyes feels managers are not being listened to.
"I think we’ve all been disappointed with some of the officiating this season,” Moyes said. “My single opinion wouldn’t matter a jot. They’ll do what they need to do.
"When we’re putting it over it’s not getting much clout at the other end. You can ask us as journalists but we feel that we’re not getting an awful lot back when we’re giving it back to the officials or whoever.”
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was left incensed by the award of Newcastle’s winner despite a triple-check by VAR during his side’s defeat at St. James’ Park on Saturday, with both the Gunners and Liverpool taking the unusual step of releasing club statements doubling down on their fury in the wake of recent decisions.
West Ham were actually the beneficiaries of VAR in their 1-0 win over Olympiacos on Thursday, after Lucas Paqueta’s volley had initially been wrongly disallowed for offside, but have had plenty of complaints of their own, most notably when receiving an apology from PGMOL last season after Maxwel Cornet’s late equaliser was chalked off against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
“There’ve been a couple of big incidents that have been highlighted, but it’s mainly at the top clubs,” Moyes added. “It’s as if people don’t think that some other clubs have the same problems, the same VAR problems, the same decision-making. It doesn’t get the same highlight. We’re all pretty disappointed by what we’ve been getting back.”
West Ham host Nottingham Forest on Sunday, looking to end a run of three straight league defeats heading into the international break. The Olympiacos victory saw the Irons register their first clean sheet in eight matches, but Moyes could be without captain Kurt Zouma once more, with the centre-back still a doubt due to a knee injury.
“We’ll have another look this morning, we’ve not really had a chance to get him assessed,” Moyes said today. “Hopefully he’s making some progress and getting close to playing."
