Daniel Farke felt Norwich were denied a deserved point by a “VAR mistake” in their 2-1 defeat at home to Leicester.
Jamie Vardy put the visitors ahead after only eight minutes at Carrow Road and it looked like it could be another long afternoon for the hosts.
The Canaries responded well and levelled when Teemu Pukki scored a first-half penalty after VAR eventually penalised a foul by Caglar Soyuncu and while Marc Albrighton provided a sucker-punch in the 76th minute, the Sky Bet Championship winners thought they had equalised for a second time when Kenny McLean headed in from a corner.
David Coote at Stockley Park again took his time and adjudged Todd Cantwell to be in an offside position in front of Kasper Schmeichel and so the effort was disallowed with the Foxes able to hold on for all three points.
“It was a VAR mistake and we have to accept this,” Farke insisted.
“My player cannot be in an offside position because Todd Cantwell does not take part in the game. He was standing in front of him but he doesn’t disturb him.
“If it is just Schmeichel against McLean, he has no chance.
“For me it was a mistake because he can’t be offside, but what can we do? We have to accept this. My players make mistakes, the referee makes mistake, even myself and my coaches sometimes make mistakes, so the VAR can make mistakes as well.”
After starting the season with a 3-0 defeat to Liverpool and a 5-0 thrashing at Manchester City, the Canaries produced an improved display against a Leicester side who won the FA Cup in May.
Farke added: “We are disappointed because it is a loss and football can be the cruellest sport in the world.
“Sometimes the better side loses the game and I have the feeling this was the case. After a tough start, the lads were brilliant and fought their way back against one of the best sides in the league.
“It was still difficult because you have to control the counter-attacks and we had a well-deserved equaliser in the first half and after 70 minutes I would have been disappointed to draw because I got the feeling we controlled their counters and really went for it.
“Then more or less out of something they scored a goal but again great mentality, fantastic reaction, we scored and it was disallowed but we kept going until the end. The lads played their hearts out, so many compliments for the performance. We are lacking deserved reward today.”
Leicester bounced back from a chastening 4-1 loss at West Ham on Monday night and also had to regroup after losing Ricardo Pereira to a hamstring injury.
Boss Brendan Rodgers admitted his side were far from perfect but was happy they sealed a second win of the campaign.
“I am delighted with three points. We showed a lot of resilience and spirit, especially towards the end,” he said.
“In terms of football, I don’t think we were anything near our best but it will come over the course of the season once we get fitter and more precise with our passing.
“It was always going to be difficult, we lost last time we were here so delighted with the three points, the mentality and the way we dug in to show the moments of quality we needed.”
