Burnley manager Sean Dyche has re-iterated his support for VAR and believes the system will soon become widely accepted.
Dyche admits he was frustrated by a decision to disallow what would have been an equaliser for Chris Wood in the late stages of his side’s 2-1 defeat at Leicester on Saturday but believes the glitches will eventually be eradicated from the VAR process.
“I was happy with my words afterwards but it was such a soft one and we saw over the weekend other soft ones that weren’t given,” Dyche said at his weekly press conference ahead of Saturday’s visit of Chelsea.
“We’re just looking for that balance. I’m still a believer in VAR, I think it’s a good thing and I think eventually it will be more streamlined because of the advances in technology and the human side of it.
“We soon forget the debate on goal-line technology but within months it’s instant and hardly impacts on anything.
“The only question mark left for it in my opinion is the turnover of penalties. I think we all agree there’s been a few that should have been turned over. They should be turned over if they genuinely think they’re wrong.”
Dyche says he would draw the line at the introduction of pitch-side monitors.
“The whole point is to be cool, calm and collected,” he said. “The idea of having a screen on the pitchside just adds to it, there’s more noise, more emotion, I don’t like that.”
Meanwhile, Dyche expects Danny Drinkwater to return to full training next week after recovering from injuries he sustained in an attack outside a nightclub in Manchester.
The former Leicester midfielder, who has played just once for Burnley since joining them on loan from Chelsea in August, suffered a badly injured ankle and facial injuries in September after being attacked by a group of men.
“We’re hoping by next week he can join in on a day-to-day basis with the first-team squad,” said Dyche.
“He needs that now, as it’s been a bit of time. He didn’t have enough football time when we got here and we just about got him close to that and then he had another period out.
“Now we’ve got to give him more football time, as in games.”
Drinkwater would not have been eligible to face his parent club and striker Chris Wood is an injury doubt for Saturday’s game at Turf Moor.
Johann Berg Gudmundsson will not be available due to a hamstring injury picked up on international duty but Dyche expects midfielder Jack Cork to return after missing two games with a shoulder injury and Ashley Barnes should be fit after nursing a groin problem.
“Barnesy and Corky have trained today so we’ll make sure there’s no reaction tomorrow,” he said.
“Johann will still be a while and Woody has a tight hamstring and we have to make a judgement call on that. We will know further tomorrow.”
