Liverpool: Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has said that he “would vote for scrapping Virtual Assistant Refree (VAR)” for the simple reason that “match officials are not able to use it properly”.
Although it is believed that Liverpool wants to keep VAR, their departing manager has a different opinion because of how the Premier League has used it.
In his final pre-match press conference against Wolves at Anfield, the Liverpool manager delivered a stinging critique of the referees’ body when asked if he would vote to retain or do away with video assistant refereeing at the Premier League annual general meeting next month.
“I don’t think they are voting against VAR,” Klopp said on Friday. “I think they are voting against how VAR gets used because that is definitely not right. In the way they do it, I would vote against it because these people are not able to use it properly. I don’t think VAR is the problem but the way they use it is the problem. You cannot change the people obviously, that is clear, so I would say I would vote for scrapping VAR.”
During their 1-2 loss to Tottenham in September, Liverpool had a genuine goal disallowed, which led to the largest VAR dispute of the season. After a string of incorrect calls, Klopp feels that Wolves, his last opponents, are more deserving of sympathy. Wolves submitted the motion requesting the repeal of VAR.
“They are the most unlucky team I ever saw with VAR decisions. They were crazy against Wolves. We had a few strange ones but they are the champions of that. Unbelievable. They will be strong [on Sunday] and they want to finish on a high. We will prepare as strongly as possible,” said Klopp.
“I was never the part that disturbed a good game before, but this time I will probably be the one. Standing there and pretending it will be a completely normal game, no one would believe me. It is a challenge for different reasons and I hope we can all put a really good performance on the pitch. It is much easier to celebrate afterwards if you saw a good game before.”
Klopp also admitted it will be “tough” to manage at Anfield for the final time, and he may be unable to deliver the pre-match team talk. He has declined a request from the film crew documenting his final season to record his pre-Wolves speech.
“This is a massive challenge. I have no clue how the team meeting will be. The documentary guys asked me can they film the last team meeting, which nobody has ever had, and I said no. I have no idea how that will be. Maybe Virgil (van Dijk) will do it. Somebody has to do it who will be really on fire. Can I be on fire? Probably yes, I think so, but I don’t know how I will be in the moment. It will be really strange.” IANS
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