MX23RW : Saturday, December 28 08:53:46| >> :120:36820:36820:

Slaven Bilic claims VAR has not been fair to West Brom

The West Brom manager claims most decisions are going against his team as they battle for Premier League survival.

Slaven Bilic has described the way things have been going for West Brom in terms of VAR as "very unfair to us".

The Albion boss says "every decision was against us", and has labelled Matheus Pereira having to serve a three-match ban after his red card last weekend as "crazy".

Pereira was dismissed in the first half of Sunday's 5-1 loss to Crystal Palace at the Hawthorns, shortly after the hosts had equalised.

The Brazilian tangled with Patrick Van Aanholt and, while he was on the ground, his boot appeared to make contact with the defender's stomach. After a VAR check, referee Paul Tierney consulted the pitchside monitor, then sent Pereira off.

A subsequent appeal by West Brom was unsuccessful and Pereira begins a three-game suspension by missing Saturday's clash with Newcastle at St James' Park.

Bilic, whose side are 19th in the Premier League, with just one win from 11 matches, said: "I said after the game he (Pereira) gave them an option – when I say that, it looks like he is guilty, but for me, it wasn't a red card.

"The more you watch it, the more you see it is not a red card – and now it's three games. It's crazy.

"In my opinion, that red card shouldn't have been given, and I expected that to go down to one game, like Everton, (Lucas) Digne, against Southampton.

"I wouldn't even be happy with two games. Then when I found three games – very, very disappointing decision.

"It's simply not fair, especially when you look at the bigger picture, what happened in that game, what happened in previous games, what is happening with VAR with us and everything. Everything goes against us, every decision.

"There is not one of them, not two, not five. I don't know how many. Eight is it, or more than eight? It is a lot."

Bilic was asked if he thought VAR was putting pressure on managers, and he said: "It does, of course it does. You get less points and your position is different in the table.

"They all say at the end it levels up, but in our case it is not the case unfortunately. Our situation is it is completely going against us.

"Nobody knows what would be the result if Matheus Pereira was on the pitch, if a penalty was given in the 53rd minute on Conor Gallagher when it is 1-1.

"Maybe we would lose 5-2, I don't know. But with Matheus and a penalty I am thinking we would be closer to winning the game.

"Or Manchester United (on November 21), if the penalty stayed, and it was 1-0 for us – maybe we lose 3-1, but maybe we would have won that game. Not to mention more games.

"I don't know is it one, two or six points. We wouldn't be 19th, we would be maybe even above (16th-placed) Brighton.

"All I am saying is it is very unfair to us the situation with VAR because every decision was against us, and that affects the results."

The United game saw West Brom awarded a penalty, only for referee David Coote to overturn the decision after watching footage back on the advice of the VAR, and United's Bruno Fernandes then have one saved by Sam Johnstone, before the VAR ordered a retake that the Portuguese converted.

Asked if he had been having conversations with the people above him at West Brom, Bilic said: "I speak to (technical and sporting director Luke Dowling and chief executive Xu Ke) after every game. It was the same after the Palace game.

"And of course nobody is happy with the 5-1 defeat, but they were also quite happy with the performance, even in that game, (in terms of) the first half. We agreed on that."

ID:426161: cacheID:426161:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:5470:
Written by
P A
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reacts as Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola looks on on January 29, 2020
Read Next:
Premier League gameweek 12 predictions including Manchester United vs. Man City
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool17133140172342
2Arsenal18106235161936
3Chelsea18105338211735
4Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest1810442419534
5Newcastle UnitedNewcastle188553021929
6Bournemouth188552721629
7Manchester CityMan City188463026428
8Fulham187742623328
9Aston Villa188462629-328
10Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton186842726126
11Brentford187383232024
12Tottenham HotspurSpurs1872939261323
13West Ham UnitedWest Ham186572330-723
14Manchester UnitedMan Utd186482124-322
15Everton173861522-717
16Crystal Palace183871826-817
17Wolverhampton WanderersWolves1843112940-1115
18Leicester CityLeicester1835102240-1814
19Ipswich TownIpswich1826101633-1712
20Southampton1813141137-266


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!