Perth coach Richard Garcia has queried the use of the VAR in the A-League Men competition after suffering a 1-0 loss to Western United courtesy of a goal the Glory believed should have been chalked off.
Western United’s winning goal at AAMI Park on Friday came in the 78th minute when Connor Pain burst down the wing, cut towards the goal line then sent a cross skidding towards goal.
Perth players stopped, thinking Pain had taken the ball out of play.
But Pain’s cross skidded past goalkeeper Brad Jones then deflected off the far post and into the path of Dylan Wenzel-Halls, who tapped home.
“I’ve seen the still now and I’ve seen that the ball is out,” Garcia said.
“Honestly, it’s an ongoing battle and we either fix the system (VAR) or we don’t use it at all because it’s continuously happening in games over and over again.
“Do we have the resources to use it? Are we using it properly? I’m not sure. That’s not my job to make comments on that system.
“But at the moment, it doesn’t seem to be getting the right decisions at the right times and we’ve seen it in multiple games and not just our games.
“I thought it was going to get called off because our players stopped. You can’t have four players stop and think that it didn’t go out.
“When you speak to the players they’re saying it’s 100 per cent (out), and it’s not one, it’s four.”
Garcia said he’d been told the VAR had reviewed and cleared the decision but wouldn’t be drawn on whether he felt it should be suspended until it was improved.
“That’s not my decision to make, that’s up to the league. But let’s not pretend that there’s a system in place, because there’s not,” he said.
United counterpart John Aloisi said he hadn’t seen the replay of the goal as he’d been celebrating, but added that “we have to trust the VAR” and that it was hard to be definitive given there wasn’t a camera on the line.
“We might have had that little bit of luck that we needed tonight,” he said.
“But I don’t know, I didn’t see the replay or anything like that and I haven’t checked our camera if the ball went out.”
Aloisi relished his first ALM victory at United, despite believing his team’s performance wasn’t as good as in their opening-round loss to Victory.
“It was great to get that first win because no matter what, you become a little bit anxious when you don’t have those three points,” he said.
Garcia otherwise described the undermanned Glory’s performance as “a massive step in the right direction.”
Star recruit Daniel Sturridge was expected to build on his cameo debut against Adelaide but was left out of the match day squad as he builds his fitness.
Skipper Brandon O’Neill, who is back in Perth with his heavily pregnant wife and striker Andy Keogh (calf) were also absent.
