Martin O’Neill has lashed out at VAR, claiming the process around Auston Trusty’s red card against Hibs was ‘nonsense’ as the Celtic defender gets set to miss three domestic matches.
The USA international was sent off by referee Matthew MacDermid in the second half of Sunday’s 2-1 home Premiership defeat after video assistant Grant Irvine flagged an incident at a corner involving Hibs midfielder Jamie McGrath.
Trusty struck down on McGrath’s arm with his fist and was sent packing after an on-field review.
Celtic’s appeal was turned down on Tuesday – leaving Trusty missing crucial league games against Rangers, Aberdeen and Motherwell. The Parkhead club then called for an urgent review of how VAR is deployed.
Ahead of the second leg of their Europa League play-off against Stuttgart in Germany tonight, with the Hoops going into the game following a 4-1 defeat at Parkhead last week, 73-year-old O’Neill was animated in his analysis of the dismissal.
‘I did the interview after the game and someone asked me if we were going to appeal it,’ he said.
Martin O’Neill hit out at VAR process ahead of Thursday night’s trip to Stuttgart
Auston Trusty trots off the park after referee MacDermid showed him red card
‘I thought: “Well, I’m really not sure about the appeal because, in this day and age, it’s seemingly worthless”.
‘But then, when I get the information coming back from the club about what has been said in VAR, then I thought: “Yeah, absolutely”, and I’ll tell you why.
‘Because the referee, as he told me on Sunday, has seen the incident. It’s not as if he hasn’t seen it. He’s watching it.
‘And when he’s asked by a very excited man on VAR, saying, delay, delay, delay, delay, and they ask him (MacDermid), he said: “No, it’s nothing”.
‘He said: ‘I’m just going to have a word with the players”. And then he has to trot over then to change his mind.
‘All I’m saying is that VAR will, in time, (mean) we won’t need a referee.
‘VAR will do it (referee), from wherever they’re doing it from, because that’s what they do.’
Clearly irked that Trusty will be missing for a run of vital matches, O’Neill added: ‘They’ve asked the referee to overturn something that he’s actually seen.
‘He’s seen it. It’s not as if he missed the incident. Of course, (had he missed it) that would be a different issue.
‘So, I’ve got a player who’ll miss three games. It’s such a nonsense. I’m all for if people have missed something dramatic in a game that constitutes something they should have a look at.
Defender Trusty looks back in disbelief after he was dismissed during defeat to Hibs
Matthew MacDermid flashes the red card during an incident which has seen Celtic demand a review into VAR
‘But when a referee sees the incident himself, then what he’s being asked to do is – no, you didn’t see that, you saw something else … that’s got to be debilitating for a referee. It’s got to be.’
O’Neill is set to name a much-changed side for this evening’s return match in Germany.
Hoping to take some positives from the game, he added: ‘Well, the scoreline to me was never a 4-1.
‘I felt, even at half time, we’re still well in the game. And the next goal is going to be very, very decisive.
‘We missed some chances as well, some half-decent chances. And, you know, obviously they’re in the top four of the Bundesliga and they’re a very, very talented side. There’s no question about it.
‘But, for us, I want to go there, we want to compete, which is the most important thing. And you don’t want to throw things away. So let us go, let us compete, and let’s have a look at it.’