Askou feels VAR is 'helping football'

Motherwell manager Jens Berthel Askou believes VAR is "helping football" and "driving the game to a better level".

While other managers have bemoaned the technology following recent controversy, such as St Mirren's disallowed goal against Hibs, Askou believes it is working.

"I think VAR is serving its purpose in general in football," he said.

"I came from Sweden, where there was big resistance towards VAR from the fans. Since the clubs were fan owned, they could keep VAR away from Swedish football.

"We'll have to accept that we don't always agree with decisions, no matter if they've had time to see it on various video screens.

"There will also be situations where the angles they have are not sufficient to see situations well enough.

"That's room for improvement, to get even better camera coverage, better angles, better zooming opportunities to make it even easier for them to make their calls.

"I think it is helping football in general to develop, because you can't cheat and make little unseen fouls inside the box anymore. So you have to actually, really defend.

"An offside is an offside, which is fair. You have to trust that they draw the lines in the right place.

"It is driving the game to a better level, that you can't cheat and steal as much as you could back in the day, where you could be a little bit more cynical."

Askou's side sit sixth in the Scottish Premiership table, one point behind Falkirk above them who have played a game more.

They welcome Hibernian, who sit third, to Fir Park on Tuesday night.

"I have seen more and more sharpness from the attacking players," he added.

"We were able to put them in even more and better situations.

"We have also seen our defensive stability grow. We've learned a lot from the first part of the season.

"Now we are entering a new part of the season where it's getting really, really hectic with a lot of games. It's going to be exciting to see how we will deal with that."