VAR is not working – Coady says decisions are ´killing´ Wolves after Anfield controversy

Exasperated Wolves captain Conor Coady declared VAR is “not working” after his side were on the wrong end of two decisions in a 1-0 Premier League defeat to Liverpool at Anfield.

Sadio Mane’s decisive goal in the first half was ultimately awarded following a VAR review, with referee Anthony Taylor having initially penalised Adam Lallana for handball in the build-up.

However, Wolves, who had a goal of their own disallowed for offside shortly after Mane’s strike, were adamant Virgil van Dijk had got away with a handball of his own before lofting a pass forward to Lallana.

“Decisions are killing us, it’s constantly against us,” Coady, who also felt Wolves were hard done by in their 3-2 win over Manchester City on Friday, told Sky Sports. “It’s ridiculous. People talk about VAR but they don’t ask us [the players] about the situation. For me, it’s not working.

“I speak to Anthony Taylor during the game. He’s a great fella to speak to, he really is, he’s fine to speak to. But you ask him questions and you don’t really get an answer.

“We thought Van Dijk had handballed it as well in the lead-up to the goal. That’s what we thought. Then he [Taylor] tells me that Van Dijk is too far away. I can’t get my head around it. Van Dijk plays the pass for the goal.

“He’s a fantastic player, an unbelievable player and it’s a brilliant pass, but, by the sounds of it, he handballed it. So I don’t know where we’re going wrong and what the confusion is, but for me it’s not good, because that’s twice on the spin now – against Liverpool and Manchester City, the two best teams on the planet.”

Defeated but by no means disgraced. @Nuno‘s men edged out at Anfield by what is an exceptional @LFC side.

All eyes now turn to Vicarage Road on New Year’s Day.

pic.twitter.com/H8kvzRHDxP

— Wolves (@Wolves) December 29, 2019

Asked how VAR is affecting the game, Coady added: “The crowd don’t like it. No one likes it. No one asks the players about it. They came in and did a presentation at the start of the season and told us what was going to happen, but it’s still confusing, you still don’t get your head around it.

“You don’t get answers on the pitch, they’ll tell you we are checking for a penalty, we’re checking for a handball, we’re checking for offside. Ok, so who is offside? [They say] we don’t know. So how far offside? [They say] we don’t know.”

Referencing Pedro Neto’s goal for Wolves that was disallowed when VAR adjudged Jonny Castro Otto to be offside in the build-up, Coady added: “I’ve just heard it’s an armpit or something again, is it? Armpits are becoming quite the rage in the Premier League at the minute.”