Nottingham Forest are furious with the Premier League and their officials currently—do they have a point and what comes next?
Substandard refereeing has been the story of this Premier League season. Wolves being denied clear penalties at the start of the campaign. Liverpool scoring a perfectly good goal at Spurs that was ruled out for offside. Countless cases of inconsistency about various handball decisions.
The list could go on.
However, over recent weeks, Nottingham Forest have been on the receiving end of numerous incorrect refereeing calls, leading to corruption chants from sections of the away end at Brighton on Sunday. Are the Premier League doing their best to relegate the Reds, given the Profit and Sustainability charges that lie against them currently? After all, Luton Town beating the drop against the odds is a better story than rule-breaking, money-splashing Nottingham Forest avoiding relegation.
The most glaring mistake made against them was in December, when Rob Jones gave Willy Boly a second yellow card after winning the ball and being trodden on against Bournemouth. The whole stadium, commentators and viewers could all see the call was wrong, and VAR couldn’t involve itself due to the fact it was a yellow. Forest received an apology from the PGMOL for that one.
You can accept the odd howler, but that’s only the start. You’ll have seen the drop-ball incident at the City Ground against Liverpool a few weeks ago, and while there is an argument Forest should have cleared, it came after their best period of pressure of the game when it was them who looked more likely to grab a winner. Momentum was shifted by that one mistake, and the chance Liverpool scored from originated from the drop ball; the then-league leaders won 1 - 0.
Ivan Toney moved the foam for a free kick that was scored as he whipped into the near corner; they wrote an official complaint for this one too. Forest were denied penalties in back-to-back home games against Newcastle and West Ham. Taiwo Awoniyi was clearly fouled by Newcastle ‘keeper Martin Dubravka, as many pundits and ex-refs have eluded too. The decision not to award a penalty against West Ham was dubious at best, although Forest did go on to win that game.
We’re not done yet.
It’s a well-known fact that you just don’t get anything at Old Trafford. The Reds had two bad calls during their visit to Manchester in August. Joe Worrall was sent off for a last-man challenge despite ‘keeper Matt Turner being favourite for the ball and a defender on the cover, followed by a very dubious penalty call. Both 50/50 you could argue, but, of course, both went against the Reds.
Following the above-mentioned debacle against Liverpool, Forest were hoping for a quiet week on the officials front last weekend. But of course came the controversy, as Brighton’s Jakub Moder only received a yellow card for a horrible, two-footed lunge at Neco Williams, despite a 90-second VAR review.
On the same day, Aston Villa's John McGinn was sent off for a far less dangerous challenge.
That’s just the highlights. ‘It equals itself out’ we’re always told. Does it? Forest have only had two major bad calls go their way this season, as Burnley wrongly saw a goal disallowed at the City Ground and Matt Turner got away with taking out Yoane Wissa, a few weeks later.
Forest don’t want to become whiners, but the recent narrative is that they are. They know that goalkeeping errors, injuries and failing to take chances have cost them throughout the season, but it’s now five out of their last eight PL games that they have had a wrong call against them.
However, the rare showing of emotion from manager Nuno Espirito Santo, who is never one to give away much, after the Brighton game shows that this is more than an isolated incident. The manager and Morgan Gibbs-White doing the job that was seemingly set out for referee analyst Mark Clattenburg.
Forest must focus on digging themselves out of the relegation hole that they are in. Their meeting with Luton this Saturday seems like a relegation playoff; a Forest win would see them move six points above the dotted line, while a loss would see Luton level with them in 18th place.
There’s sure to be a letter of apology heading Forest’s way this week, most likely coupled with sanctions for the manager for his post-match comments. But all that can matter to the players this weekend is the task ahead; they must be ready once the whistle goes at Kenilworth Road.
Forest must make sure that, regardless of the challenges the men in black throw their way, they start taking their chances and winning games, as the Premier League season begins to reach its climax.
Comments