Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche expressed strong dissatisfaction with the VAR's five-and-a-half-minute review process during the team's 1-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers. He emphasized that the penalty process was "unreasonably long" and also stated that referees should not be required to explain their decisions to the live audience.
In the 1-0 away victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers at Nottingham Forest, Sean Dyche questioned the VAR review time. His team endured a wait of up to five minutes and 33 seconds, and Igor Jesus' first-half goal was ultimately ruled out for offside.
Although Dan N'Doye was clearly in an offside position in front of Wolves goalkeeper Johnstone, VAR referee was slow to signal to the main referee to go to the sideline to review the replay, and the main referee also took an excessively long time to confirm a situation that "could be clearly seen in one replay" after reviewing the replay. Jesus then scored the only goal of the game in the second half, but the penalty process became the biggest point of controversy afterwards.
Dyche said, "I think this is important. In the past, without these, a head coach might lose their job because of a wrong call. Now, at least in theory, it gives everyone a greater chance of getting a similar call."
He continued, "Even with VAR, there will always be tough decisions. For me, it takes too long. There are so many people in that room, and if that's the final decision, it could definitely be made much faster. So, I understand the fans, but from a professional perspective, my job might depend on these decisions."
Dyche emphasized that he pointed out early on that VAR needed to speed up: "When it takes so long, I'm reminded of what I said many years ago when VAR first emerged, which was to see how quickly they could speed up the process, and they still haven't achieved that."
He also expressed his confusion about the practice of requiring referees to announce the results on the field after making a penalty: "I just think it's a waste of time. The process is already long enough, just announce it and continue the game. I really don't understand. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe the fans want it, but it just makes the time longer."
Dyche added, "Personally, I think refereeing is very difficult, and they've done a good job overall. Why put more pressure on them? Not everyone is suited to speaking in front of 20,000, 40,000, 50,000, 60,000, or 70,000 people. Why impose this burden on them? Why not let them just focus on officiating? I mean, take these things off them, give them the opportunity to focus on officiating, let them catch their breath and do their job, and stop piling on layer upon layer of burden."