Ange Postecoglou gave a hint of disapproval as two VAR u-turns featured in Celtic’s 2-0 win away to Dundee United.
When the technology was introduced to Scottish football the Celtic boss declared himself ambivalent to it all but after the Glasgow derby at the turn of the year he decided to speak out.
VAR itself isn’t the main issue but the random interpretation of the handball rule seems to have turned the game into a lottery.
Penalties have been awarded for close range handballs where players had no option to get out the way while there has been a couple of cases of a hand being raised to make contact with the ball and play continuing.
Shortly before half-time at Tannadice Don Robertson awarded Celtic a penalty when Kyogo Furuhashi was wiped out by goalkeeper Mark Birighitti, after being called over for a review the penalty decision was overturned.
Early in the second half Kieran Freeman raised his hand to block a pass from Jota, Robertson missed it but after a look at the monitor he pointed to the penalty spot with Aaron Mooy netting to put Celtic 2-0 in front.
Listening to Postecoglou’s post match interview with Sky Sports, the Daily Record reports the Celtic boss saying:
Look mate, I’ve had my say on it, we’ve just got to let it roll now. All managers would probably say the same thing about it.
From my perspective I’ve kind of made a conscious decision a few games back to concentrate on football. I don’t think there is any point to it (criticising VAR), it is quite obvious there are still some issues there.
All we can do is play the football we need to play to put the result beyond doubt. It’s more than momentum, we want to finish the season stronger than we did the first half of the year.
The SFA are keeping a low profile on VAR and refereeing issues, apparently hoping that everything calms down but the weekend events suggest that issues remain with referees rather than the technology.
