Ange Postecoglou launches VAR attack as Celtic boss blasts handball decisions and lengthy delays

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou launched a scathing attack on the way VAR is being used in Scottish football after becoming frustrated with lengthy delays during his side's 4-2 win over Dundee United.

The Greek-Australian was also vexed by another controversial handball decision going against his side after Dundee United were given a first-half penalty when the ball struck the arm of unsuspecting defender Alexandro Bernabei.

The award was given after a lengthy VAR check, while six goal reviews, as well as another hold-up while a possible red card for Craig Sibbald for a high challenge on Giorgos Giakoumakis was analysed, ultimately with no action taken, caused further delays.

Postecoglou was left exasperated by the constant disruptions to the flow of the match as his Celtic side recovered from conceding an 85th minute equaliser to score two late goals and move seven points clear at the top of the Premiership.

Referee David Dickinson walks past Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou as he checks the VAR screen during the match against Dundee United. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

"I was frustrated and I probably didn’t handle it well," said the Celtic boss. "Just to be clear here; I don’t have a problem with VAR but I have a problem with how it is being used. There is no secret that we want to be a team who plays at a high tempo, especially at home because we think that is effective for us but also it is entertaining for the fans. I don’t think people fell in love with football just to be sitting around waiting for someone in a building miles away to decide outcomes. They do not need to take that long. Even our second goal – our players are celebrating for about two minutes and we are still waiting all that time. To see what? I still don’t know what it was. If you can’t decide in two minutes then it is probably not there. If they have seven camera angles it seems like they want to look at every one. I might be on my own on this one but I will cop people making mistakes but I just don’t feel comfortable. I know it is early doors and it is a new toy that everyone wants to use but you can’t be disrupting games like this. I don’t think it is good for anyone."

Celtic were penalised for two debatable handballs in the 5-1 defeat to Real Madrid in midweek and were also on the wrong end of the decision when failing to receive a penalty for a Michael Smith handball in the recent 4-3 win over Hearts at Tynecastle.

"It seems like any time the ball touches your hand in the box - apart from when you are playing Hearts away - it's a penalty," Postecoglou added. "The problem with technology is they are going to have to change a lot of rules because they are re-refereeing the game, which is the one thing they said they wouldn't do. But they are, there's no doubt about it.

“It's changing our game. It's changing what we all knew to be the laws of the game. They are not what they used to be. I was always pretty clear what a handball was, deliberate handball. I played the game, you kind of know. But it seems that's not the way.

“That's the problem we have got now, we have let technology come into the game and rules that have been in place for over a century that we are all comfortable with are all of a sudden having to be looked at. I don't think that's what VAR was for. VAR, I thought, was there to pick up clear and obvious errors. Clear and obvious. Someone is having a shot from that distance and it hits his arm, how they can say that's clear and obvious? I don't get it. That's not the case anymore. The problem is with technology is they are going to have to change a lot of rules because they are re-refereeing the game, which is the one thing they said they wouldn't do. But they are, there's no doubt about it.

"And I feel for the officials because I have no doubt that they are scared to make decisions, they would much rather let it go and see if VAR picks something up. We scored the second goal and we were celebrating for two minutes and they are still checking when they are about to kick off. What the hell were we waiting for? There was nothing there, I could see that in the first screen. We can't take away from the fact that we have 60,000 people here. Of course they want to see us win but they are also coming to watch a spectacle. They are not coming to watch someone in a building miles away take two or three minutes to make a decision. I just don't think that's what it's for.”