Conte criticises ‘incredible VAR mistakes’

Antonio Conte launched into a tirade on the use of VAR and called for it to be binned after Tottenham’s penalty was overturned against West Ham.

West Ham looked like they had conceded a penalty for a third consecutive home league match when Spurs were awarded a spot-kick in the 11th minute, only for referee Peter Bankes to overturn his original decision after a lengthy four-minute VAR delay.

The official eventually used the pitchside monitor on the advice of VAR Stuart Attwell and reversed his decision.

Spurs did go on to take the lead courtesy of a Thilo Kehrer own goal but the home side equalised 10 minutes into the second half through Tomas Soucek after the midfielder smashed past Hugo Lloris following a clever Michail Antonio flick.

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West Ham boss David Moyes admitted the reversed VAR decision was “the turning point in the game” and Conte couldn’t hide his feelings of frustration with how the officials came to that decision.

Conte said: “I said to him [the referee] at the end of the first half, but with a smile and not in a problematic way, you have taken the right decision and then VAR called you. They have for sure embarrassed the referee because to make him change a right decision, I think it was really, really strange.

“But for managers and for players, I think to accept the mistake of the referee during the game is okay because a referee’s decision sometimes can be positive, sometimes can be negative. At the end of the season there is always a balance with a positive or negative situation for your team.