Sarri Reveals Premier League Referees Not Ready For VAR Usage

By Joshua Walters

Mauricio Sarri has indicated that referees in the Premier League are not ready to use VAR because he believes the technology sometimes changes the atmosphere in a game.

Chelsea tasted the bitter side of  VAR against Tottenham Hotspurs in their EFL Cup game on Tuesday where the Lily Whites were given a penalty via the VAR consultation and the Italian trainer believes the technology does no good to referees’ decision making.

The controversial penalty given to England striker Harry Kane left Sarri amazed, and expressed his disgust at  the impending introduction of the VAR.

The 1-0 defeat leaves Chelsea needing to beat Tottenham in the reverse fixture to try and turn the result in their favour which will see them battle for the trophy.

"The problem is not the referee or one or the other. The problem is they are not ready to use the VAR.”

"It is not easy because if you look at the linesman he stopped his run and for the player and this is a signal of offside.

"But it is normal. They use the system for the first time in the League Cup and so they need only to get used to using the system.”

"I don't like VAR but it is only my opinion because we risk to change the atmosphere in the stadium. You score but have to wait for 30 seconds to celebrate.”

"I am used to playing with the system because in Italy we used it starting three years ago. I don't like but it is only my opinion. I prefer like now in England."

"It was a mistake but it wasn't really very important.”

"We are talking about 10 seconds of the match we have to think to the other 89 minutes. It is not important.

"It is only a referee decision but I have to analyse the full match and we need to think how to solve our problems. We don't need to think about the referee. It is not important for us."