Dundee United Manager Jim Goodwin spoke to the broadcast media ahead of our William Hill Premiership clash with Aberdeen on Matchday 29.

The Terrors' boss discussed his frustration following VAR's decision to overturn a crucial Sam Dalby header against Hibernian, using the disappointment as motivation at Pittodrie, the potential of reclaiming third place with a victory and more!

ON THE FRUSTRATION OF WEDNESDAY NIGHT’S DEFEAT IN DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES

We need to move forward and we need to focus on the next game which is a huge fixture up at Pittodrie. Of course, there's still a bit of a hangover from Wednesday night with the decision that went against us. I said after the game if somebody showed me an angle that proved my statement after the game was wrong then I would apologise - but I stand by everything that I said.

There isn't a conclusive angle that shows there was any handball, therefore we believe that the goal should have stood and it should have put us 2-1 up in a very important game.

ON THE CLUB’S DISCUSSIONS WITH THE SFA SURROUNDING THE DECISION

We had a productive meeting with Willie Collum and I think he has been a positive addition to that department at the SFA. Things have been better this year in terms of communication and transparency.

I'm not going to go into too much detail with regards to the type of conversation we had on Willie's views, but I am led to believe that he will be doing some type of interview with the panel on YouTube next week. I think he'll give his own opinion on that incident himself.

I said to Willie that we all had a meeting at Hampden at the beginning of the season and the IFAB rules were all made clear to us. The biggest rule is the clear and obvious one - VAR can only intervene with an on-field decision if they have got significant footage that shows there was a clear and obvious error.

From the audio and video angles that we have seen, there is no suggestion of a handball within the Sam Dalby goal - that's the big gripe for us. We believe that the goal should have stood. Willie will no doubt speak about it himself, maybe in the early part of next week and give his feelings on it.

Out of respect to him, I think it would be only fair that he gives his own version of events. But the conversation that we had yesterday with the footage and the audio that we listened to, we believe it backs up our stance on the situation. As I said, that IFAB rule has been drummed down everybody's throats.

You guys in the media talk about it, us managers, the referees speak about it. The VAR can only intervene if there's been a clear and obvious mistake. There was no conclusive evidence. There was no factual evidence to show that Sam Dalby had handled the ball. Therefore, the goal should have stood.

There's nothing we can do about it now. That's the message that I've been giving to the players that, as hard done by as we feel with that big decision, we have to move on. There have been other VAR decisions that we feel have gone against us this season but those types of decisions have been up for debate.

The Kilmarnock one for instance, we believe there was a foul on Jack Walton. Some people think that wasn't a foul and that's one of those 50-50 ones. To disallow a goal the way that it was disallowed on Wednesday night with no real conclusive evidence is not within the rules. It's as simple as that.

We have to now put that behind us and focus on the big game against Aberdeen on Sunday.

ON THE AWARD OF A CORNER IN THE MOMENTS PRIOR TO HIBERNIAN’S WINNER

That's similar to the Kilmarnock goal where it's a 50-50 one. For me, looking at the way the ball had spun off the Hibs defender's leg, it was clear to most people in the stadium that it should have been a corner kick. Sometimes in those instances, referees are told to, if you're not 100% certain, take the safest option which would obviously be a goal kick.

We have to defend that situation better, they haven't scored directly from the goal kick and there's a lot that happened after it that we need to take responsibility for., but we still believe it was a corner kick.

David Dickinson said he wasn't sure. Therefore, he made what he thought was the safest decision. That is up for debate. The goal is the talking point. That's not up for debate - it cannot be an assumption. It can't be a guess. It needs to be factual.

That's what we've been told this whole season with the new IFAB rules around VAR and the handball decision. As I said, there is not an image out there that shows that Sam Dalby has handled the ball.

ON THE POTENTIAL RAMIFICATIONS OF WEDNESDAY’S ERROR

Every team in the league has had decisions in their favour and decisions going against them. I hate that old saying; ‘It evens itself out throughout the season.’

In the 28 years I've been involved in football, I've never actually gone back and counted the decisions that we've had for and against to find out if it's ever evened itself out. The fact of the matter is, we don't want six-minute delays for these decisions. If it's a straightforward mistake that's been made by the referee on-field, and it's a clear and obvious mistake, that should only take half a minute, 60 seconds maybe.

But we've had players standing around in the cold on Wednesday evening for six minutes and it's led to a couple of my players coming off the pitch not long after that because they're stiffening up. These guys are athletes and they need to be warm and unfortunately standing around for that period of time is not good for the players, it's not good for the supporters either. If you need to spend that much time to try and find something, then clearly there's nothing there.

The implications and the ramifications of those types of decisions are massive, and you hope they don't impact your season too much because a third-place finish for us this year could be worth millions of pounds in European prize money - there is a significant impact.

Whoever has decided to disallow that goal, then there needs to be accountability and I'm pretty sure Willie will deal with that in the manner that he sees fit.

ON SAM DALBY’S PERSONAL DISAPPOINTMENT

Sam’s up there challenging to be the top goalscorer in the league. Opportunities against good teams like Hibs are quite limited at times and we feel that we worked a really good free kick, a set piece that we spent time out on the training pitch putting together.

The delivery was excellent from Ryan Strain, Sam has won his individual battle with the Hibs centre-back and scored a legitimately good goal. I think for any striker to have a goal chalked off in that fashion is extremely disappointing. Of course, he's frustrated, but at the same time we know that if we get the big fella service, he's capable of doing what he's done all season, which is put the ball in the back of the net

ON HIS OVERALL VIEWS ON VAR

I was a big advocate for VAR and I still am. I believe that if there's technology out there to help and assist the officials to get those big decisions right, then we have to use it. It's really important that the people using the VAR stick to the protocol and the guidelines that have been put in place by IFAB.

Each club in the premiership is paying in excess of £100,000 a year for the equipment, I don't think that we're paying the top package for the VAR that is available. It's just whether clubs are willing to pay that little bit more to make sure that we get even more camera angles. Even if you look at the one Celtic had at Easter Road against Hibs at the weekend, there's no conclusive evidence to show that that ball was over the line.

I'm not here to talk about other games, but if we had the different camera angles that they have got in the English Premier League, then you would be able to see 100% whether that ball was in or out, it’s the same with the Sam Dalby one.

If we had a better VAR system in place, then there might have been better camera angles to show whether there was a handball or not. It's all about money at the end of the day and it comes down to the investment.

I'm not one, right now at this moment in time, for throwing VAR in the bin - I don't think that's the way forward. I just think we have to get better at using the technology.

ON USING WEDNESDAY’S FRUSTRATION AS MOTIVATION

We have to - sometimes things don't go in your favour. We played really well on the night and that’s been forgotten about in the aftermath of the game because of that big decision.

In the three games we've played against Hibs up to now, that is by far the best performance we've had against them. I thought in the second half we were very good and definitely didn’t deserve to lose the game. Had the game finished 1-1, I don't think there would have been too many complaints from either team or set of supporters.

There are lots of positives that we can take from it and we have to use what happened as a bit of motivation and hopefully, that will galvanise the group - when those big decisions go against you, when there's so much at stake.

I know there was a lot of football still to be played, but we'd be sitting third on the table right now a couple of points above Aberdeen and still six points above Hibs. These decisions can be really costly come the end of the season and we have to hope that's not the case.

ON HAVING AN OPPORTUNITY TO GET BACK TO WINNING WAYS AT PITTODRIE

There’s lots of football to be played. We still believe we need a few points to make sure we can guarantee the top six. Aberdeen away is not an easy fixture and I've watched them in the last couple of games that they've played.

The scoreline on Tuesday would suggest that Celtic were miles better on the night, but, if you watch the game back, Aberdeen had some really good chances at 0-0 and would be disappointed not to have found themselves going in front in the game.

They've invested heavily in the January window and signed some really good players. We know that it's going to be a very difficult game, albeit, the last time we played them at Tannadice, we found a way to win the game and we need to do the same again on Sunday.

ON TEAM NEWS

We've still got one or two missing - Ross Docherty and Louis Moult. Will Ferry also limped off as well along with Lucas Stevenson on Wednesday. Again, I don't think standing around for six minutes in the cold helped with either of those two players.

They're being assessed at the moment and we'll see how they are tomorrow (Saturday) morning.

ON THE POTENTIAL OF RECLAIMING THIRD PLACE WITH VICTORY IN THE GRANITE CITY

That's the incentive for us to try and win the game. Depending on what happens in the Edinburgh Derby, we could find ourselves back in third place come Sunday evening which would be fantastic. That is the motivation there for the players now, to use the anger and the frustration that we experienced on Wednesday night and turn that into a positive on Sunday.

Share This:

Related News