Boss Kieran McKenna believes VAR “in its current guise” is “taking from the game as a spectacle”, the Blues’ 1-0 home defeat to Brentford having been repeatedly stopped for incidents which the Town manager believes were marginal decisions rather than clear and obvious errors.

The game against the Bees, in which Kevin Schade headed the winner from a corner in the 18th minute, was stopped frequently throughout, a number of times for grappling at flag-kicks, most notably ahead of the goal.

McKenna was asked what he made of the various incidents and reiterated his frustration with the way VAR is working at present, something Town won’t have to deal with next season having been relegated to the Championship.

“I think it was two teams being physical in the box,” he said. “Both looking to work blocks, both being physical and, for me, VAR in general, we won’t have it next season as as club, I’ve spoken about it earlier in the season, I don’t think it’s adding.

“In its current guise I don’t think it’s adding to the game. Of course, there are some benefits to it, but we’ve had quite a few games like that this year.

“We had it two weeks ago at Newcastle where the game’s been stopped for two, three, four minutes to look at marginal calls that you can never say are clear and obvious. If it was clear and obvious, it could be looked at in three or four seconds and say it’s a decision or not.

“But with it being stopped, supporters in the stadium are standing around or sitting in silence, players are standing around, staff are standing around waiting while things are getting reviewed for minutes on end that are marginal decisions.

“The actual things that went on in the penalty box, they were probably similar for both teams. Both teams had appeals, the referee decided that none of them were strong enough cases to be a penalty.

“The pauses in the game that come, both on set plays but on other incidents, in my opinion, are taking away from the game as a spectacle for the people in the stadium and for those involved.”

In the lead-up to the goal, VAR had a look at a potential penalty when Jacob Greaves clashed with Sepp van den Berg with a spot-kick not given due to the ball not being in play when the incident took place. Subsequently, Jack Taylor and Christian Norgaard were booked for a further melee, again with the ball apparently not having entered the field of play.

“That’s what they said to us,” McKenna said. “The first one, Jacob Greaves gets blocked and then as he gets blocked, he blocks the next man and they fall down in the box. I think it had been taken but they said it hadn’t.

“My impression was that it had, whether that’s right or wrong I don’t know, the referee’s really close to see whether it’s a penalty or not. So then there’s the three-minute stoppage or whatever it might be.

“The next one with Jack Taylor, him and Norgaard were both blocking each other and [Mikkel] Damsgaard falls on top of him, so that gets stopped again. I think the ball wasn’t in play at that point, so I understand why there was the next delivery [which led to the goal].

“The biggest one for me probably was the three-minute pause standing around in the box while something gets reviewed from several, several different angles that by definition then probably can’t be clear and obvious.”

Quizzed on whether he’ll be pleased not to have VAR next season, McKenna responded: “I don’t want to sound like the manager of the team or whose team is getting relegated moaning about VAR because it’s not that. I can give my opinion on it, I have earlier in the season, I understand what it’s due to give.

“But I think, in its current usage, I think it’s taking away more from the game. The number of long stoppages in the game for stuff that cannot be clear and obvious things or else it wouldn’t take a long stoppage, it would be easy to look at.

“Things are being micro-analysed from different angles that I don’t think need to be micro-analysed and, for me, that takes away from the game, involvement in it and involvement for the spectators.

“I can understand there’s a purpose for it. Sometimes you look at games at the top end of the Championship or play-offs and there’s a decision that is so absolutely, brutally clear in a big-stake game in a Championship final or semi-final that if someone can see it and correct the referee and say ‘you’ve made a mistake’ because it’s so clear that 100 people out of 100 would see that, then I think there can be a purpose for it.

“And with the financial and sporting things at stake, I can understand the purpose for it, but the microanalysis of every situation, the stopping of games for long periods, the what I think now is teams being very good at pressurising the referee into looking at things on VAR and refusing to start the game until something’s been looked at on VAR, I think these things, having been in the league without VAR, I was in it for the first year there was VAR and seeing where it’s at now, in its current guise, it’s taking away more than it’s giving.”

McKenna wasn’t sure whether today’s game had the most VAR stoppages of all the Blues’ matches this season.

“You’d have to test my memory,” he said. “Recent memory’s not hard because we had a similar situation at Newcastle where there were a load of pauses for different VAR instances.

“Was it the most? I think we’ve had a few games like that, so someone else would have to put a clock on it but it felt like there was a lot of stuff being looked at.”

Reflecting on his side’s display, McKenna felt they ultimately deserved a point: “I think we certainly could have got one. I thought the players gave everything. I think we competed as well as we could.

“We know we’re coming into it in really difficult circumstances against a team in really good flow with a consistent team who have played together for the last few games and played together for a lot longer than our team on the pitch now has.

“I thought we competed well. Of course, the first goal is big in these games and if you take out the other incidents, it’s a good set play from Brentford and they’ve done it terrifically for a lot of years now, and we have to learn and work to improve.

“But they’ve built that up over probably a decade in terms of their set play processes and culture.

“So they score a really good set play goal, which is one of the reasons they are where they are.

“I thought we managed the difficult bits of the game well, better than we have in the last few home games. I thought when the game was getting away from us, we didn’t lose our heads and go chasing it, we managed to stay in the game, which has sometimes been a little bit of a problem in the home games.

“So we managed to stay in the game, that’s something we’ve spoken about because you know you’ll get a chance to push for it late on if you don’t let it go to 2-0 or 3-0.

“We stayed in the game well, we dug in in the difficult moments and then we pushed hard in the last 20 minutes or so to try and get a goal back and but for a really good save and one or two misses, then we would have had a deserved point on the second-half efforts.”

Despite the Blues extending their run of home defeats to a new record of eight and matching their all-time most losses at Portman Road in a league season, 13, McKenna feels pluses can still be taken from matches.

“It’s certainly a lot more enjoyable sitting here after a victory or from picking up points, but we know the level, we know where we’re at,” he reflected.

“Over the course of time, you know that good performances are the best way to pick up points and you still have to - within the disappointment of the result or the results - you still have to find the positives in there and keep building on them, you still have to find the lessons to get better. That’s what we’ll continue to try and do.”

Regarding loanee Julio Enciso’s display, McKenna said: “I thought he did really well. It was difficult for him in the first half, they were doubling up on him really hard and he was up against a really physical full-back anyway when he was playing a bit wider in the first half. That was a good tussle but they were doubling up and tripling up on him at times, which was difficult for him, but I thought he still carried a threat.

“And in the second half, when they were getting a little bit more tired and the space opened up and he moved in central, he was really, really hard to live with in terms of his ball-carrying, his dribbling and I thought it was a really strong performance from him.”

Regarding Conor Chaplin coming off 11 minutes into the second half, McKenna said: “Conor was sick overnight and felt good enough to start but was struggling on the pitch.”

TWTD

Mark added 19:02 - May 10 VAR is dreadful and takes away the enjoyment of the moment. We knew that a year ago when Wolves proposed scrapping it, but all other Premier League clubs voted to keep it! We should hold the vote again and consult the fans. The game is supposed to be for us.
5

Town1Inter0 added 19:04 - May 10 More set-piece skills needed at both ends of the pitch when we’re back in the Premier League the season after next.
2

virginblue added 19:16 - May 10 Great point Mark. VAR summed up when in the home game with Wolves, their fans were singing “f&£k VAR” when VAR was looking at our goal. It’s totally destructive.
3

Facefacts added 19:17 - May 10 This was always going to be a tight game after KM schooled Thomas Frank in the first half of the away match. The worrying thing is what KM says about the Brentford players undermining the referee with their corner taker effectively holding up the game, refusing to continue until VAR look at the incident and they get an outcome they are happy with. This is cheating pure and simple. The players are in the Ipswich Town penalty area so there are very few outcomes that can benefit us. It looks as if we need to become a whole team of cheats to play at Premier League level. That, like it or not, is what it takes.

2

delias_cheesy_flaps added 19:17 - May 10 VAR is for the elite teams
2

essexblue added 19:46 - May 10 So you read that a ref can only award a penalty for a foul if the ball is in play. Only for misconduct if the ball is not in play. So if they were checking for a penalty the ball must have been in play as Kieran said and as I thought with the corner taken before the ref blew his whistle. If that’s the case they can’t be allowed to re-take it twice. Pull back on Encisco when he beat his man on half way and no yellow card. These refs I think are worse than in the EFL and that’s saying something

4

chepstowblue added 20:06 - May 10 It's a vile sport to watch now. Set pieces are tiresome. I used to get excited when we got a corner. Now I leave the room, make a sandwich and let the idiots push and shove for three minutes. But it's not just VAR that's the problem.. The behaviour of the players is utterly pathetic. With a more pedantic ref we could have conceded three penalties today. Thank Christ for re-runs of the big match from the 70s and 80s.

5

grinch added 20:07 - May 10 I think there isva problem with the coaches and opposition corners. We have town players more interested in wrestling and having there backs to the ball incredulous that we then complain. Other teams defend their boxes from our corners far better has to be the coaching. It was the same as so many first halfs the opposition were holding us quite easily then after 20 mins they got out of first gear. Notts Forest manager said he knew we would do that and we did the dame today. VAR is poor but no poorer than our midfield there is our problem sideways backwards weak morsy and taylor immobile and over run. Delap has decided his future isvaway from PR with his latest non effort displays but we keep playing him...why ? Hirst is the strikerin form bloody start him KM must change or we will struggle in championshipvas teams no exactly our singular style of pla Lets get the season finished and start next year.

4

chepstowblue added 20:07 - May 10 The soul has been sucked out of the sport, and unfortunately it won't ever return.
3

ArnieM added 20:14 - May 10 You can shove VAR and the Plastic League right up the old whizz way as far you can get it. Both are an insult and an afront to FOOTBALL. If it's not corrupt it's a " fine margin" from being so. Roll on next season to THE BEST LEAGUE in this Country. It certainly isn't this Plastic League with it's diving cheats, constant shytehousery, and vastly overpaid so called " stars", who frankly aren't fit to lace the boots of some of the game's previous true greats. I bloody HATE the " premier league". It's the biggest con in football.

6

DifferentGravy added 20:35 - May 10 Totally agree with Mckenna on this point. I said it would make the game worse when it was first introduced 7 years ago. Im always happy to review and reflect...........nothing has changed my mind whatsoever
5

SpiritOfJohn added 21:16 - May 10 Why no VAR check when Greaves was kicked in the head or when Hirst had his heals clipped when through on goal? Brentford are in the Premier League and we will be in the Championship next season. Who pays the referees? The Premier League. The system is stacked against any promoted, soon-to-be-relegated club.
3

Edmundo added 21:34 - May 10 The referee was woeful. The whole point of VAR is to help clear up errors by the ref. But they've got to be trying to get it right: this ref just delegated difficult decisions to VAR.
1

IpswichT62OldBoy added 21:48 - May 10 Goal line tech fine, otherwise trust the on field officials. Because of VAR they don't know how to make decisions. The on field decision is usually right, Clive F. Thomas part, and if not, no more debatable than if VAR has spent 20 mins coming up with nothing.
2

pablo123 added 23:05 - May 10 Well you don't have to worry about VAR anymore unfortunately
0

armchaircritic59 added 23:45 - May 10 I've got to confess I was a VAR fan when it was introduced, let's just say I'm somewhat less enthusiastic now. Km's right about them trying to micro manage everything, and they interfere where no interference is necessary. For many many decades, football has been played by human beings who make mistakes and refereed by human beings who do likewise. I think something of a return to letting the referee do just that and just let VAR chime in for offsides ( which is objective and not open to opinions) and anything else that VAR officials think the referee has got badly wrong only. VAR gets it wrong too with all their replays and angles, as seen by things like Evanilson's red card recindered, which I could see was never a red card from my sofa! To sum up, just let the referee do what he's paid to do, and just let VAR intervene for offsides and anything they believe the referee has got badly wrong, and I mean badly.

0

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