Potter claims it would be 'boring' if every decision was correct in football

Chelsea head coach Graham Potter admits he would not have supported the decision to bring VAR into the Premier League as he prefers a system where 'whatever mistake happens, happens'.

Potter's Blues were denied a crucial penalty late on in their 1-1 draw away at West Ham last weekend, which could have brought the under-fire boss a first win on the road since October.

Despite Hammers midfielder Tomas Soucek appearing to block Conor Gallagher's goal-bound shot inside the box with his arm, referee Craig Pawson waved away Chelsea's appeals for a spot-kick - a decision which was backed by the VAR team.

Yet Potter, whose side have only claimed one win in five, insists he has no problem with officials making human errors and instead believes football would be 'boring' without them.

'I have no problem with VAR necessarily,' he said on Friday. 'I don't think I would have had it in the first place because I think I'm a bit of a romantic traditionalist. I quite like that the referee and the linesman are there to make a decision and whatever mistake happens, happens. I think that's good.

'But I understand that we want to make it so that all the decisions are correct. Then I go... do we really want every decision to be correct? Because there's an element of human error, there's an element of that that happens in a game for us all to talk about and get annoyed about - it's part of the game.

'I think it would be boring, are we going towards eventually computers are gonna make the decision? Because I hear people talk about that they need it to be consistent, the only way for it to be consistent is for human beings not to make the decision, because every human being will see it in a different way and the football action will be so different, there won't be the same one.

'So this drive for consistency is strange when you consider that humans are taking part in the game.'

As well as Chelsea's late penalty appeal, VAR also drew heavy criticism last weekend when Arsenal and Brighton were on the wrong end of offside decisions the PGMOL later admitted were incorrect.

Brentford's Ivan Toney should have been denied an equaliser against the Gunners last Saturday, while Brighton were ruled out a winner away at Crystal Palace when VAR's offside were drawn against the wrong player.

The Premier League said they were 'disappointed' by the performance of their officials, but Potter has sympathy for them.

'I don't think it's so easy to be a VAR ref,' he continued. 'I think we're still in the early stages of being a VAR ref. It must be different to go on the pitch feeling the game, to then refereeing a game in this room for example.

'So that's something I think they're inevitably going to get better at. But apart from that, I have enough problems myself to worry about VAR.'