The Roar's A-League Men tips and predictions: Round 26 - the jostle for finals positions is on in earnest
Here is the way the Roar expert panel sees all the action unfolding across the final weekend of play prior to the semi-finals.
The A-League should immediately suspend the video assistant referee (VAR) system because of continued bungles, Central Coast coach Mike Mulvey says.
Mulvey says the VAR is still causing confusion among coaches, players and fans.
“There’s a lot of confusion right now with what the VAR is actually there for,” Mulvey told reporters on Friday. “Maybe not in the referee’s eyes or the referee inspector’s eyes but it is with the public and the players and the the coaches, and I think that matters.
“And I think for the A-League to have a sustainable product for the future, they need to have a real good look at this right now.”
Mulvey said he could list numerous examples of the Mariners being “aggrieved” by the VAR system this season.
“This is not a whinge. This is just a bad look for the A-League itself,” he said.
Mulvey said the system had not improved since it failed to detect an offside in the lead-up to what became Melbourne Victory’s title-winning goal against Newcastle in last season’s grand final.
“In the grand final, in the biggest game of the whole season for the A-League, Newcastle were done because the VAR wasn’t ready to rule on that situation for the goal that was scored,” he said.
“And here we are a number of months later and we still haven’t got it right. We’re still arguing about it, we’re still discussing it. And it’s not a good look for the A-League.
“So I think potentially we need to suspend it for now and just let the referees referee the game and we get on from there.”
Mulvey spoke with Football Federation Australia’s director of referees Ben Wilson on Friday.
“He gave plausible description of what he thought what happened in certain circumstances,” he said.
“But there’s a lot of confusion out there.
“At the end of the day the fans are the key in this, they need to know what’s going on, they need an explanation as to what’s going on.”
© AAP
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Here is the way the Roar expert panel sees all the action unfolding across the final weekend of play prior to the semi-finals.
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