Former West Ham United defender Nigel Winterburn has said that English referees don't 'understand' football after West Ham had a goal disallowed in controversial fashion against Chelsea.
The Hammers lost 2-1 to the west London outfit in the last league games played before Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II died last Thursday.
Maxwel Cornet thought he had scored an equaliser in the dying embers of the game only for VAR to intervene and rule the goal out for an alleged foul on Chelsea goalkeeper Eduoard Mendy by winger Jarrod Bowen.
READ MORE: Rice, Paqueta, Bowen - The nine West Ham players who could feature at the 2022 FIFA World Cup
The decision came on a weekend where a number of other goals across the division where harshly chalked off, once again bringing into question the strengths and point of the video technology.
Speaking to Paddy Power, Winterburn, who played West Ham, Arsenal and England during his career, said referees are not using VAR correctly and that the goals should have stood.
“We’re not going to go backwards and remove VAR because we want to keep up with the rest of Europe in terms of VAR," said Winterburn. "The problem isn’t VAR, the technology is there to be used correctly. Unfortunately, the people using the technology aren't using it correctly.
“There is too much involvement from VAR in trying to help the referee but they’re clouding his judgement. The second thing that worries me is that the referees are not strong enough to go with their original decisions.
“Why aren’t they [the referees] brave enough, once they’ve watched it on the screen, to stick with their decision? It seems like they want to protect each other: they’ve been called over to the screen by the VAR and think they don’t want to upset the apple pot and go with the decision, so they appear on the same wavelength.
“Please stand up for yourselves! I thought VAR was supposed to be used for clear and obvious mistakes and none of the instances last weekend were clear and obvious, so those goals should've stood.
“It is an opinion, but the VAR opinion should only be required if the referee has completely got it wrong. I'd ask the referees to be stronger. When they go and look at the screen, if they don’t think they’ve made a clear and obvious mistake, they should stick with their original decision. Then at least the referee has stuck to their decision, whether or not we agree with it!
“The calls last weekend suggests to me that referees know the laws of the game, but they don’t understand the game.”
READ NEXT
- Trevor Sinclair issues public apology after Twitter post about the Queen sparks major backlash
When West Ham vs Newcastle United could be rescheduled after Premier League decision
TalkS PORT take Trevor Sinclair off air after Queen Twitter post sparks major backlash
Joe Cole's advice for 'anxious' West Ham summer signing yet to score a Premier League goal
Nikola Vlasic’s goals, Arthur Masuaku impressing, Nathan Trott’s chance - West Ham loan latest
