Nottingham Forest went to Goodison Park in hopes of coming back with points and getting further away from the relegation zone. Instead, they left Merseyside feeling unjust, as the Premier League match officials, per usual, made decisions wrong.
Nottingham Forest had three penalty calls not given, and Ashley Young committed all of them. One was for contacting Forest midfielder Gio Reyna inside the box. The second was Callum Hudson-Odoi trying to deliver a cross into the box, which directly hit Young’s outstretched arm, once again, inside the box.
Lastly, the third penalty decision against Nottingham Forest involved Hudson-Odoi and Young as well. The former was brought down inside the box by the latter, and the look on Young’s face said it all.
Reyna was gearing up to shoot for the first penalty call. For the second decision, had Young not outstretched his arm, the ball would have been on the path to striker Chris Wood, who, at the very least, would have attempted a shot.
The on-field referee, Anthony Taylor, and VAR official Stuart Atwell waved off all three shouts for a penalty. Barely any stoppage in play occurred for the officials to review, which suggests they made the decisions in real-time.
What Did Nottingham Forest Say?
Subsequently, the real drama ensued. Nottingham Forest took to X, formerly Twitter, to lambast the officials and the decisions made during the game. The initial part of the statement read:
“Three extremely poor decisions – three penalties not given – which we simply cannot accept.”
Had the statement ended there, fans would have turned a blind eye. But it didn’t, and all hell broke loose following the second part of the statement. This read:
“We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a Luton fan before the game, but they didn’t change him. Our patience has been tested multiple times. NFFC will now consider its options.”
Boom went the dynamite.
The meltdown well and truly began. Certain fans, mostly pundits (Jamie Carragher, Gary Neville, and Alan Shearer), were abhorrent of this statement from The Reds rather than condemning the actions of the match officials. Either way, it got Forest one of their objectives—which was to get the fans talking about the game and particularly the decisions that essentially cost them at least a point.
The Decision to Issue a Statement
The decision to issue a statement is fitting for a club with an outspoken owner like Evangelos Marinakis. Fans and pundits like Gary Neville might point out that clubs cannot issue statements like these, but this isn’t Forest’s modus operandi. Decisions have gone against them all season long, and Nuno Espirito Santo and his predecessor, Steve Cooper, have lambasted the PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited) in the post-match press conferences to largely no avail.
What made Nottingham Forest rightfully even more enraged is the recurring theme of decisions going against them. This isn’t the first time this season that Forest fans and the players feel they’ve had blatantly obvious choices against them. And given the standard of officiating in the Premier League, with just four matchdays, it will most likely not be the last.
Decisions Against Forest this Season
On at least six occasions, Nottingham Forest has unjustly been on the wrong side of refereeing mistakes. This started with the game against Bournemouth, where they sent off Willy Bolly after making the decision. The referee dispensed the red card in the 23rd minute of the game, as Bournemouth won 3-2 thanks to Dominic Solanke scoring three goals. There were also penalty decisions against Newcastle United and West Ham that could have cost Forest points this season but didn’t.
Embed from Getty ImagesNottingham Forest lost another point in the game against Brentford when Ivan Toney moved the referee’s marker foam for a free kick. This resulted in a better angle for Toney, which he duly converted. Inevitably, Toney converted the free kick, and Brentford went on to win 3-2.
Referee Paul Tierney gave possession back to Liverpool in the dying embers of the game at the City Ground against Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp’s men scored deep into stoppage time in another incident. Strangely enough, the VAR assistant for that game was none other than Stuart Atwell. Coincidence? Perhaps.
These clear-cut decisions should not have stood and cost Forest six points this season. With those six points, Nottingham Forest would be sitting 15th and seven points from relegation.
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