Tottenham boss Antonio Conte says officials in England “have to learn” how to use the Video Assistant Referee system after his side were held to a Premier League draw at West Ham.
David Moyes’ side hit back from a goal behind at London Stadium to claim a point against Spurs, who maintain their unbeaten start to the campaign.
Conte’s men have won three and drawn two of their five games so far and stay in third place, but saw the two sides above them – north London rivals Arsenal and champions Manchester City – both claim victories on Wednesday.
Spurs thought they had a penalty when Peter Bankes pointed to the spot for an Aaron Cresswell handball, but after a lengthy check by VAR and having watched the incident on the pitchside monitor, the referee overturned his decision.
“Honestly, at the end of the first half, I spoke with the referee and told him ‘you have taken the right decision’,” Conte told BT Sport.
“It is incredible that VAR looked again, called the referee, he can see it was the right decision and the call from VAR was strange. I can tell only that the referee has taken the right decision. Usually the VAR calls when the call is not right.”
The visitors did break the deadlock in the first half through Thilo Kehrer’s own goal – the German sliding in and diverting the ball into his own net following Harry Kane’s low cross.
Michail Antonio curled a delightful strike against the post before West Ham deservedly levelled in the second half courtesy of Tomas Soucek, the Czech confidently converting from Antonio’s clever flicked pass.
Club record signing Lucas Paqueta was introduced for his Hammers debut after the hour mark despite not having trained with David Moyes’ men since signing from Lyon.
The best opportunity for a winner fell to Pablo Fornals but the Spaniard flashed his first-time shot over from 12 yards, while at the other end Kane’s scuffed volley was gathered by Lukasz Fabianski.
(BBC Sport)
