What did you say to the referee over the handball?
Nothing much.
Have you had a chance to have a look at it again?
I only had one chance. I didn’t have a chance before I spoke to the ref, but I’ve had a chance to see it since. The difference for me, and you’ll probably hear them coming out with some rubbish like he needed to break his fall but if you lunge at the ball it’s your own fault for lunging and being out of control in the tackle. Now, you can break your fall by sliding down and having to put your arm down but when you lunge for the ball. For me, that completely nullifies anything they’re talking about breaking your fall.
I think it’s a penalty kick. I don’t know what else I’ve got to say. I think the hardest thing to take is the disrespect from VAR, that VAR wouldn’t have at least said to the referee that this might be worth having a look. That’s telling me that they don’t see that as even close to a decision. So I’m surprised, because a lot of football people, a lot of football are in here and people who write, I bet you’ve seen a lot worse than that recently.
What do you put that disrespect down to?
Somebody in VAR didn’t have enough football knowledge to understand that this could be close. Disrespect is not a football club, this is a football club and supporters who are at the game and will tell you all of the football people involved and that whoever it was chose not to send the referee. The VAR would have said, hey, you should go and check this out. VAR for me showed no respect whatsoever to us, thinking that this could be close or worth a call.
Do you feel you understand the handball law now?
I think I do quite well, yes. I do.
It seems that it has changed so much it is tough to know what the law is?
I think I’ve had enough games, I’ve played football for a long time. I think I know when it happens. By the way, the handball rule has changed dramatically and I don’t like a lot of it, to be fair. Do I think the boy meant tonight for it to his his hand? No, he didn’t. But do I think that he got his hand in the way of a ball going through made by his own actions? Yes, I do?
Do you think you might get an apology from the Premier League?
Look, it’s not that [an apology]. They might need to apologise to the football club. We need to win points to try and be a Premier League team.
Is that your biggest concern that mistakes like these were made and can have a big impact?
Do you know what? I don’t want to turn it into this, because I actually think that we played well tonight, we didn’t get any points, we did a really good job. I’ve given you my quick opinion on what I thought of the decision and what I think of the people who made it. I’ve got probably not a lot more to talk about regarding who is doing it and what is doing it.
Do you think it was an encouraging performance?
By the way, it was probably a really tight game. I thought we gave away two sloppy goals, from our point of view. We could have blocked the first one. The second one, we had got taken under a corner. It’s something we’re pretty good at. Tonight, we get outdone on that. We had other close calls which went against us, so I can’t complain with how the players performed at all, not at all.
What improvements would you like to see in VAR going forward?
I’m not an expert in it. I’m not. I just think that maybe if you’d been around football or seen it a bit more, then maybe you’d understand how and when people lunge and that decision. I think he lunges to get the ball, where I think the handball comes in. I totally understand breaking your fall, all those words, but only if you’re saying he lunged at the ball and the ball had to get moved quickly because of the lunge and because of that, it meant that his arms were out and it hits his arm. He’s got to take responsibility for his actions, if that’s what you do.
Lucas Paqueta has scored three goals in his last three games. Are you now seeing what you had thought you were getting from him?
Yes, he scored a really good goal, a well-worked goal. We are, we are beginning to see an all-round better performances from him and popping up with the goals helps as well and he is beginning to look like he is settling in much better.
