There were a number of controversial moments in Burnley's late defeat at Premier League rivals Manchester United on Saturday.
The Clarets appeared to be on their way to a hard earned draw that would have heightened the pressure on Red Devils head coach Ruben Amorim as goals from Lyle Foster and Jaidon Anthony cancelled out an own goal from Josh Cullen and a Bryan Mbeumo strike. However, there was to be late agony for Parker and his players as United stole the points in the seventh minute of injury-time with a penalty from captain Bruno Fernandes after Anthony was ruled to have pulled Amad Diallo as he made his way into the area.
Although Parker was understandably frustrated with the defeat and the circumstances behind the decisive goal, the Clarets boss found time to praise goalscorer Foster after the South Africa international saw an Old Trafford strike ruled out by VAR, just as he had during the home win against Sunderland seven days earlier.
Speaking after the draw, the Clarets boss said: “VAR stopped him (Foster) from scoring last week [against Sunderland] as well. Oh no, yes, he scored last week as well, which you could say, I think that was VAR as well. I think that was someone else who said, I don't know whether the ref gave that on the day, but VAR said it was a foul as well and he had a goal there. He's had two goals today, one obviously, which if it's offside, it's offside, however small the margins are. But really pleased that he got a goal today, really pleased.”
Different
Sam Barrott checks the VAR screen during Burnley's game against Man Utd on Saturday (Photo by Matt McNulty/Getty Images)placeholder image
Sam Barrott checks the VAR screen during Burnley's game against Man Utd on Saturday (Photo by Matt McNulty/Getty Images)
Not for the first time this season or in recent years, the implementation of VAR has been widely discussed across the Premier League after a number of questionable incidents over the weekend. With several lengthy delays during the decision-making process, questions have been asked over the impact using the system has made on the flow of the game.
When asked if football was becoming like the stop-start nature of the NFL, Parker replied: “Yeah, it probably is. NFL is a set play game, that's where it's different. Football is a 90-minute flow of a game. NFL is one play and then you have three minutes to discuss the next play. It's broken down. Football is continuous, football has a flow to it and fans have a flow and you can see things and you make decisions or the ref makes decisions or whatever it is. That's obviously changing and that's the way it is now.”
Continue Reading