Jack Grealish has called to ‘get rid’ of VAR after Aston Villa were controversially denied a late equaliser in their dramatic 2-1 defeat to West Ham at the London Stadium.
The Villans attempted to muster a fightback after Jarrod Bowen put the hosts ahead at the start of the second half with a deft header but were unable to score the all-important leveller.
Grealish, 25, had evened the scores in the first half with a fine individual goal after Angelo Ogbonna opened the scoring with a powerful header in just the second minute of the game.
Villa had the Hammers under the cosh in the latter stages, and striker Ollie Watkins had a game to forget having missed from the penalty spot before seeing his late strike ruled out.
The former Brentford striker latched onto a wonderful Matt Targett cross to strike home beyond Lukasz Fabianski in stoppage time, in what Villa thought was the sought-after equaliser.
However, VAR intervened to deem that the Englishman was marginally offside, with the top of his arm just straying beyond the last West Ham defender.
Villa boss Dean Smith, as well as Sky Sports pundits Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher, have argued that Watkins’ arm was in that position because he had in fact been fouled by Ogbonna when the ball was played in.
And Grealish, who has already made his thoughts on VAR public following last week’s controversial defeat to Brighton at Villa Park, has once again hit out at the video technology.
‘As for VAR, I’ve shared my views before and it’s now just getting borderline embarrassing with some off the decisions. Ruining the game,’ the Villa captain tweeted to his 388,000 followers on Twitter after the game.
The England international also posted ‘VAR get rid’ to his 1.1million followers on Instagram.
Grealish’s latest comments follow his criticism last week after Villa were denied a late penalty against the Seagulls following a VAR review.
After the game at Villa Park, Grealish tweeted: ‘VAR = LMAO’.
They have given offside for a part of the body that can’t put the ball in the back of the net,’ Villa boss Smith said after the game. ‘The only reason the arm is where it is, is because he is being fouled by someone who had his arms round his neck.’
