Andoni Iraola had his say on the controversial VAR decision in the Tottenham vs Liverpool game ahead of the Everton vs Bournemouth fixture this weekend .
The game saw Luis Diaz’s first half goal incorrectly ruled out for offside after a miscommunication by VAR, which led to an apology by PGMOL before releasing the audio of the referee’s dialogue on Tuesday afternoon.
Iraola said: “I think it’s pretty clear. It’s a mistake they make but we have to accept the mistakes. I think it’s not VAR and then zero mistakes I think with the VAR they have reduced a lot of the mistakes, but we are not at zero mistakes, we are in less mistakes and when it’s against you it’s hard to swallow. When they have time and it’s not live and it’s more hard when you see like it’s not that the referee didn’t make the right decision in one second, they had a lot of time to think, but it’s like this we have to accept it’s part of the game.”
Simon Hooper, the referee for the game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, is the VAR official for Everton vs Bournemouth at Goodison Park on Saturday.
Iraola said: “I have the advantage that I don’t have previous experiences with the referees. I’m open-minded, no bad experiences from the past”.
“The level of the refereeing here is pretty high and I hope they have a good game and make the right choices”.
The Spaniard also gave an injury update, saying that midfielder Tyler Adams is no closer to returning for the Cherries.
“Availability will be the same as last week. There are no changes so it will be the same players as last week against Arsenal”.
“Tyler, we don’t expect him soon. Again, with us I think the medical staff are analysing the situation. They are asking different specialist to take the best route we have and we still haven’t decided but whatever the solution he takes or we take we don’t expect him soon on the pitch”.
Both teams come into the game at Goodison Park in poor form, with Everton having a 100% losing record at home and Bournemouth yet to win a game this season.
When asked if he was worried, Iraola said: “You worry even if you win games in football. You have to be alert and you have to prepare for every game as you need it the most. It doesn’t change the way you prepare because at the end you want to win every game and every point every competition you play so the way to work doesn’t change too much”.