'Nightmare' VAR puts future of football in doubt, says Mauricio Pochettino following Tottenham controversy

Video assistant referees are endangering the future of football, according to Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino.

Having endured a chaotic experience with VAR in their FA Cup fifth round replay against Rochdale, Spurs will have hoped lessons would have been learned before their trip to Swansea on Saturday.

However, with the game under the guise of VAR once more, a Heung-min Son goal was incorrectly ruled out for offside, despite having been referred to those with the benefit of replays.

With VAR now confirmed for use at the World Cup, Pochettino says the technology creates a ‘massive’ problem for the future of football.

“It’s a nightmare, it’s a nightmare,” Pochettino said. “I am so sorry for the people that try to sell that system. I am so sorry. But today Sonny wasn’t offside.

“No, in the end I prefer the assistant referee make a mistake, not the technology and waiting three or four minutes on the pitch.

“But ok, I think we need to see in the reality how it’s going to affect the game, the players, how it’s going to affect the referees and the coaching staff on the touchline.

“In every single action I can see today the coaching staff ‘it was foul, it was handball, why not this, why not that?, use the system, the VAR to see if it is or not’. It’s so, so complex and the worst thing for me is that it’s going to affect the fans.

“This system will affect the fans. We are going to have a massive problem for the future of football.”

Fortunately for Tottenham, the decision was not game-changing as they eased to a 3-0 win, becoming the first confirmed side in the FA Cup semi-finals for the season.