'We just had to cop it' - Postecoglou analyses nine-man defeat via referee rant
Ange Postecoglou believes that Premier League managers just need to accept the 'unfortunate norm' of VAR.
Transcript
00:00 See, that's the problem. That's the problem. Premier League managers should just manage
00:06 their football clubs. I've never and I never will talk to a referee about the rules of
00:13 the game. I was taught that you grow up and you respect the officials. You know what managers
00:20 do? I'll tell you what managers do, me included. We try and find ways to bend the rules, to
00:24 get around them. Tell me what the rule is and I guarantee you'll have a room full of
00:28 managers processing how can I get around this. We're not the right people. And I get that
00:34 people keep saying that. I don't agree with it. What I want is the best officials always
00:40 being upskilled to officiate the game. But I think it's so hard for a referee to officiate
00:46 these days. Their authority is just constantly getting diminished. I just don't know how
00:52 - like I said, I grew up afraid of referees. They were a bit like policemen. But nowadays
00:58 I guess we talk back to policemen as well. Like I said, I'm old school, mate. I'm a bit
01:03 of a bygone era. I just love the purity of the game. But that's not what's going on.
01:08 Part of this is my problem. I've got to embrace it and find a way to work with it. But it
01:14 goes against everything I want to try. I want my team to play fast, attacking, high tempo,
01:20 go at it football. If we get a red card and it's a penalty against us, so what? Let's
01:23 cop it. Let's go again. But then we have to stand around for two minutes to figure out
01:28 whether something was offside or not. Let the linesmen make the decision. Remember,
01:31 it used to be the benefit of the doubt. Do we all remember that? To the striker. We all
01:34 lived with it. The game didn't collapse. But like I said, I'm like an old man shouting
01:42 at the clouds, mate. I'll cop it for that, but that's who I am.