Keith Andrews questions use of VAR after another red card costs Brentford

Brentford boss Keith Andrews questioned the use of VAR in the Premier League after Igor Thiago’s first-half dismissal proved costly in a 2-0 defeat at high-flying Brighton.

Bees striker Thiago was initially shown a yellow card by referee Michael Oliver after reacting to a shirt pull and subsequent push from Albion midfielder Chema Andres, who was also booked.

But the punishment was upgraded to red on review as match official Oliver deemed the Brazil international used “force” to push his opponent in the face with a raised arm.

Brentford’s only other league defeat this term came after Yehor Yarmoliuk was shown a first-half red card in last month’s 2-1 home loss to Liverpool.

Andrews accepted his players must take responsibility for their conduct but questioned the circumstances surrounding both incidents.

“We’ve lost two games in the league this season and both have been when we’ve gone down to 10 men, so you need to analyse yourself first clearly,” he said.

“On both scenarios, we can do better. On both scenarios, the opposition player has been the one to provoke the situation and antagonise our player and react towards our player in an aggressive way.

“Players’ reactions now mean everything. I’m going to reiterate it: we should do better. But the game is in a state now of a place I don’t particularly like. We’ll have to have a look at that because it’s costing us.”

Brentford were already trailing at the time of Thiago’s sending-off following a stunning long-range opener from Brighton midfielder Diego Gomez.

Disgruntled away fans chanted “2-0 to the referee” and “Michael Oliver, it’s all about you” after Pascal Gross doubled Albion’s lead with a 42nd-minute penalty awarded for Keane Lewis-Potter’s shirt pull on Luka Vuskovic.

Andrews, who felt his side should have been “cuter” in the penalty incident, was frustrated Oliver was sent to the pitch-side monitor before changing his initial decision on Thiago.

“I’m struggling to believe in this day and age where we see the referee’s call on pitch and the bar of where they’re given the licence to referee in-game, which is what I should think it should be, but he’s been sent to the screen,” he said.

“We play on the edge, we’re a team that likes to play on the edge, I want us to be on the edge. But it clearly cost us.”

Brighton climbed to second after marking their return to the Amex Stadium following five successive away matches with a comfortable victory.

Gomez lashed into the top-left corner with his left foot to follow up his goal from the halfway line in last month’s 5-0 thrashing of rivals Crystal Palace.

Seagulls head coach Fabian Hurzeler said: “It’s a funny story because yesterday he trained shooting with the left foot and I couldn’t see him scoring today with this left foot – the shots weren’t great.

“I asked him after the game where he got this quality from overnight. It’s a huge improvement in a very short period.”

Albion’s win was a seventh from 10 top-flight games and lifted them above Manchester City and back to within five points of leaders Arsenal.

Asked when Seagulls supporters can start getting really excited, Hurzeler said: “They should be always excited if they watch our game, and that’s our job to make them excited.

“I always say they can dream, they can have high expectations on us, but these are things we can’t control.”