Jose Mourinho Gives Frank Assessment of VAR After Spurs Controversy

Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho blasted VAR following his side’s 3-1 defeat to Sheffield United on Thursday night, having seen what would have been an equaliser to make it 1-1 controversially ruled out because of a handball in the build-up.

Harry Kane was the player who put the ball in the net, but the goal was chalked off following a VAR review when Lucas Moura was harshly adjudged to have handled it as he fell under pressure from Sheffield United defenders and had the ball struck against him.

The Blades eventually went 3-0 up and Spurs grabbed a scant consolation goal at the end.

Mourinho refused to say too much about the officiating after the match, in his words for fear of being slapped with an FA charge and a touchline ban, although he was happy to suggest that he thinks the use of VAR has taken power away from the on-field referee.

"I'd like to but I can't say what I think, I'll be in trouble. I'll be suspended. I don't want to be," Mourinho told Sky Sports.

"The one here is not the referee. The referee is hidden in some office. The referee is there. This man on the pitch is not the referee. He doesn't make the decisions. The main decisions in football now are made by the man in the office. I don't speak with the assistant referee that was today with the whistle on the pitch.

"That's the reality. I'm not telling anything that we football people know. The linesman makes a decision but of course technology made the decision in the office where they are. The decision on penalties, the decision on handballs, free-kicks.

"Everything is not made by the referee on the pitch, the referee on the pitch is not the referee."



Mourinho at least drew praise from opposite number Chris Wilder, who called the Spurs boss a ‘class act’ when he interrupted a post-match interview to congratulate Sheffield United on the win.



“Class act by the way,” Wilder said as Mourinho walked away. “His team has just got beat 3-1 and he's had a really poor decision go against him. That speaks volumes for what he is about.”