Dean Smith urges referees: Take back control of game

The Villa chief remains sceptical over the use of video replays following their last-gasp 2-1 Premier League defeat to Liverpool on Saturday.

Villa benefited after Roberto Firmino had a goal ruled out having been flagged offside in the first half.

It was a call backed up by VAR, but so tight the Premier League had to clarify the decision at half-time, saying the striker’s armpit was ahead of last defender Tyrone Mings.

Smith attended a League Managers’ Association meeting last week with VAR high on the agenda and feels officials need to take greater responsibility.

“I feel they’re taking a little bit of authority away from the referee and I want the referee to have that authority,” he said. “If he thinks it’s a goal and VAR are telling them there’s something other than a factual reason, I’d like him to go over and have a look himself.

“I made my points known and we’ll have another meeting this week. We all voiced our concerns about it and what we think can improve.

“You can’t scrap it now, there’s 28 countries using it. We all wanted it to find the right decisions but there was always going to be teething problems and we’ve found them.”

Villa fell foul of VAR in their 3-0 defeat at Manchester City last weekend after David Silva admitted touching Kevin De Bruyne’s cross, despite replays showing if Silva had touched the ball Raheem Sterling was in an offside position.

Smith added: “Last weekend was a terrible day for VAR because they’ve gone from one extreme to the other. We need to find a happy medium, a good balance.”