{"id":198320,"date":"2026-05-12T21:42:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T21:42:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2026\/05\/12\/maddison-says-referees-are-petrified-of-decisions\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T21:42:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T21:42:35","slug":"maddison-says-referees-are-petrified-of-decisions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2026\/05\/12\/maddison-says-referees-are-petrified-of-decisions\/","title":{"rendered":"Maddison says referees are petrified of decisions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tottenham<\/b> midfielder James Maddison has suggested referees are “petrified” to make decisions because of the video assistant referee, after being denied an injury-time penalty against <\/b>Leeds<\/b> on Monday.<\/b><\/p>\n

Substitute Maddison went down under Lukas Nmecha’s challenge during added time, but referee Jarred Gillett and the VAR dismissed his appeal for a spot-kick.<\/p>\n

The match finished 1-1, leaving Spurs two points above the Premier League relegation zone with two games to play.<\/p>\n

Maddison, 29, who was making his first appearance of the season after his return from injury, wrote on his Instagram account: “For clarity\u2026 The small, tiny touch on the ball to change direction came from the outside of my right foot, not Nmecha, and I told the ref that.<\/p>\n

“But the check was over in about 20 seconds. Officials are petrified to make decisions on pitch now because of VAR. We keep fighting. COYS.”<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\n

It is not the first time Maddison has criticised referees. In September, he said referees and VAR “had an absolute shocker of a start” to the season after Professional Game Match Officials Limited chief Howard Webb implemented a policy of “less intervention” for VAR in the Premier League.<\/p>\n

BBC pundit Alan Shearer has been vocal in his criticism of VAR, saying refereeing standards are “the worst we have seen for a long time” and “only getting worse” because of the use of its use. <\/p>\n

Former Liverpool full-back Stephen Warnock has said VAR is the “worst thing that has been introduced to the game”, while ex-England and Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has said football’s emotion is being drained by technology.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Europe’s top leagues have been summoned to a meeting with Uefa in the summer to discuss how VAR technology is being used, with head of Uefa referees Roberto Rosetti saying: “I believe that we forgot the reason why VAR was introduced.” <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tottenham midfielder James Maddison has suggested referees are “petrified” to make decisions because of the video assistant referee, after being denied an injury-time penalty against Leeds on Monday. Substitute Maddison went down under Lukas Nmecha’s challenge during added time, but referee Jarred Gillett and the VAR dismissed his appeal for a spot-kick. The match finished […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-198320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nMaddison says referees are petrified of decisions - Tahrir News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2026\/05\/12\/maddison-says-referees-are-petrified-of-decisions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Maddison says referees are petrified of decisions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tottenham midfielder James Maddison has suggested referees are “petrified” to make decisions because of the video assistant referee, after being denied an injury-time penalty against Leeds on Monday. 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