Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell says other Premiership managers have gripes about VAR decisions and he would like to see “humility” as officials admit they get decisions wrong.
From his own perspective, Kettlewell is still baffled over two identical incidents where Dundee United striker Steven Fletcher went down under a challenge from goalkeeper Liam Kelly, with one resulting in a penalty and a yellow card for the keeper, and the other a booking for Fletcher and no penalty.
The Motherwell gaffer says he recalls a weekend where “six or seven” wrong decisions were made over the course of six fixtures, and wants consistency.
He said: “I’ve seen both [penalty] incidents back. I said after the game, and I stand by it, that I felt both incidents were almost a carbon copy.
“I didn’t see any difference in them, but one results in a penalty and the other one results in a booking for the attacker.
“I don’t want to use it as a stick to beat everyone over the head with, but I just want consistency.
“Even if it was two penalties, I think that gives us all clarity, and if it’s two yellow cards, then that gives us clarity – but the fact that we had two completely different outcomes in that scenario I find it baffling, I really do.
“I looked at the offside decision back again, I’ve seen pictures of Kevin van Veen’s goal that was chalked off for offside.
“It looks very similar to the one that we had going against us with Fashion Sakala against Rangers a few weeks back, where the lines in the pictures I’ve seen look like they’re touching.
“I wasn’t sitting in VAR HQ when the lines were drawn and stuff like that, so I need to be cautious in what I’m saying on that front.
“But from the pictures that I’ve seen, the red and blue lines look to be touching, and I was led to believe that advantage should go to the attacker and it didn’t for us on this occasion.
“It went against us against Rangers, and it went against us in the Dundee United game.
“But what I also didn’t want it to be is for it to become about refereeing decisions.
“It has a massive impact, and a bearing on what the outcome of the game was, but we were also in a position where we were ahead in the game and had chances, so we probably could have and should have kept our noses in front in the game.”
When asked if others have gripes, Kettlewell said: “It depends on who you ask. I need to be cautious in what I’m saying, I’m a lover of football and I just want to see consistency, but I think we’ve seen some weeks when it has been a major challenge.
“VAR has been a big challenge, and in my opinion – and only my opinion – there was one week in particular when I felt there were probably six or seven incorrect calls over the course of the weekend.
“Other people and officials will probably argue that I’m wrong in my observation of that, and I understand that.
“People lose their job – not just managers, but if clubs are relegated then members of staff lose their job, and I think we all felt that by bringing in VAR we were going to try and mitigate some of those decisions where human error can come into play.
“But there have been so many incidents that the general football fan and the person who has a keen eye for the game will tell you that the outcome was wrong.
“When I see decisions that were wrong they will still argue that they got them right, and sometimes I would quite like to see that wee bit of humility to make sure that everybody’s on the same page.
“When you listen to so many good football minds, guys who have an absolute wealth of experience in the game – take myself out of it – but [there are] other managers I’ve spoken to on a similar topic.
“I think you’ll get a feel that we’ve all got similar feelings on it. Some will feel they’ve been hard done-to, over the piece there have been some poor calls for all clubs.
“I don’ t think any one club has been hammered any more than any others, but where I need to be balanced on it is that there have been some calls that have definitely helped us.
“I would just like to see if we can tighten that up and come out on a weekend and most of us have a general feeling that the decisions have been on point.”
Follow Lanarkshire Live Sport on Twitter via @LanLiveSport, like us on Facebook or find us on Instagram for the latest sports news, pictures and video.
