Derek McInnes reckons on-field referees need to be granted more authority in their decision-making when it comes to the use of VAR.
The Kilmarnock boss was left bewildered with some of the weekend action regarding the officials in various instances across the Premiership, not only involving his team.
Lewis Mayo was sent off for the denial of a goalscoring opportunity for an awkward collision with Scott Tiffoney at Dundee. Luke McCowan stepped up to score the resultant penalty to add salt to the wounds.
Killie’s appeal was unsuccessful with the Scottish FA panel yesterday.
And it’s consistency or lack of, that’s the main bugbear for McInnes.
"I still think the same offence that you see in different weeks isn't being punished the same way,” the 52-year-old said. “We're just looking for consistency.
“I think it's unfair to say that managers hide behind VAR and blame VAR and referees for decisions. We're all in this together to try and reach the correct decisions more often than not.
"We've all invested in a tool to try and assist the referees, to try and help to get to better decisions. Other than the offside, I think we're still having so many more challenges. By this stage, I think we should be far more clear on criteria, what should merit red and yellow cards, when VAR should interfere and when they shouldn't.
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"When we should re-referee the game and when we should give the referee more autonomy. It changes from week to week and I don't think there are clear messages being put out there.
"I'd just like to see our better referees on the pitch more. I've always been big on that.
"I don't think we have the benefit or luxury of having an abundance of top referees. I think because of VAR, we're accelerating a lot of younger referees into a position when more senior referees should be the ones on the pitch.
"I know they've got to be trained and developed in the VAR room. I think too often our better referees aren't on the pitch and I'd rather see them there and in charge.
“At this stage of the season, it becomes even more serious and prevalent that we get decisions right."
McInnes highlighted Corrie Ndaba’s red card against Hibernian in January as an example of the inconsistencies surrounding the way VAR intervenes.
The club opted not to appeal that decision but felt Mayo’s sending off was worthy of making a case. This left many fans curious about that thought process, with the latter seemingly causing less dubiety than the former.
McInnes explained: “On the Ndaba incident, it indicated to me that the criteria were met for a red card, even though I disagreed with the notion there was any speed or danger in it.
“On Saturday, I didn’t see an infringement. I don’t see a foul by Lewis, I saw a coming together. He’s trying to hold him off. I don’t see him grabbing, I don’t see him pulling Tiffoney down. Yes, Tiffoney gets ahead of him but I still don’t see the foul there.”
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