Antonio Conte hits out at VAR after Emerson Royal’s red card

Antonio Conte has complained about the VAR process in English football after Emerson Royal was beaten 3-1 at Arsenal on Saturday.

Midway through the second half, trailing 2-1 on his side, Royal Gabriel chased Martinelli and planted his studs on the top of his compatriot’s ankle.

Referee Anthony Taylor viewed the challenge as a dangerous one and gave Royal his march orders much to the dismay of Conte and his Tottenham players.

The eviction had a huge impact on the overall result, and Granit Xhaka settled the matter shortly afterwards with a deliberate effort to ensure Arsenal remained at the top of the league.

Speaking after his side’s first defeat of the season, Conte lamented the decision, saying: “In England I have to be honest, it’s very difficult because they don’t have the same line. [threshold].’

The Italian added in his post-match press conference: “Sometimes you see situations that could be a red card instead, or a yellow card instead or no yellow card instead. They have to work a lot on this.

The Spurs fullback took a blow to the Brazilian winger before Anthony Taylor sent him off the field

“In Italy, our referees will stay, they will stay together on Thursday, to try to improve with the video. I don’t know if they do this in England, but I think it’s a good idea.

“The level is so high and the VAR must be of a high level. That’s why every part of this decision has to be top notch.’

Meanwhile, Conte admitted that the red card killed the game as a game, which inferred why he made four seemingly defensive substitutions shortly after Xhaka’s goal with 20 minutes left in the game.

During this period they scored the third goal. It was really hard – the red card ruined the game,” he said.

“Not because we were left with ten men, it was really an attacking team and it took four to five minutes to change. It made it hard to defend.’

Antonio Conte complained about the decision to send a Royal away and was criticized by VAR for seemingly not reversing the decision

Despite his complaints about Taylor’s performance, Conte also criticized his team’s performance in the first period.

“If I had to complain, it would be before the first half,” said Conte. “We felt the opportunity to win the game and we had a lot of opportunities to use the situations much better.

“Every time we overcame the pressure, we had a lot of spaces every time. We made a mistake in the last passes. For this reason, the game was unbalanced. We conceded the second goal in the second half.

“We could have done a lot better, but in every situation in every goal, but you could do a lot better there. After a few minutes, the red card killed the game completely. End of the game.’