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West Ham’s Michail Antonio says VAR has “made refereeing worse” as referees now have “something to fall back on”.
The Jamaica striker referenced the standard of officiating in Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Manchester City on Sunday.
He also complained about refereeing in the Hammers’ draw at Southampton, after which his manager David Moyes said the VAR “needs to go to Specsavers”.
“Consistency is what you want,” Antonio told The Footballer’s Football Podcast, with Newcastle striker Callum Wilson.
Antonio says Romain Perraud’s opening goal in their 1-1 draw should not have stood as the referee Peter Bankes accidentally blocked Jarrod Bowen’s path to the ball, while claiming Kyle Walker-Peters had committed a foul throw in the build-up – but a VAR check allowed the goal to stand.
Officials said it was a foul throw and the rules also state a referee cannot stop a game unless the ball actually hits him.
Antonio added: “I honestly feel VAR’s made the refereeing worse, because they have something to fall back on. They go, ‘alright, if I get the decision wrong, VAR will get the decision right’.
“It gives them the comfort of, ‘I can leave it to VAR and if they mess it up, they’re in more trouble than I am because they’re looking at a video, whereas I’m watching it live’.”
This season has already seen a number of controversial VAR and refereeing decisions.
Earlier this month Tottenham manager Antonio Conte suggested refereeing and VAR in England is not at the required level.
In September, the PGMOL effectively accepted controversial VAR decisions made at Chelsea and Newcastle were wrong, while this month VAR decisions surrounding the handball rule dominated a weekend’s action.
However, as the discussion around the abuse of referees in grassroots football has also been high on the recent agenda, some have criticised negative media punditry around officials at the top of the sport as a contributing factor to behaviour at lower levels.