If you have taken in any of the national media’s post-match reaction to Liverpool’s win over Nottingham Forest, you will have no doubt seen the furore surrounding Darwin Nunez‘s late winner.
As Liverpool went mad for Nunez’s winning goal, so did some of the Nott’m Forest bench, but for different reasons entirely.
At full time, many of their staff, including manager Nuno Espirito Santo, came marauding onto the pitch to complain to referee Paul Tierney about a decision made over two minutes before Liverpool scored.
Forest coach Steven Reid was among those to be penalised, receiving a red card after the final whistle. Nottingham Forest‘s owner, Evangelos Marinakis was also involved.
BBC journalist Rob Schofield reported: “You rarely see scenes like that in the tunnel.
“We saw Steven Reid getting frustrated, he and Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis pursued Paul Tierney and [the fourth official] Graham Scott all the way to the referees’ office.
“[Marinakis was] yelling at them, ‘Respect the players! Respect the players! This happens every week! Respect the players!’
“Marinakis had to be removed by security at one stage.”
The controversy came as a result of the referee’s decision to award a drop-ball to Liverpool due to Ibrahima Konate going down with a head injury.
Forest were in possession at the time the whistle was blown, so should have been the team to receive possession from the official upon play restarting.
The club’s referee analyst and former Champions League final referee, Mark Clattenburg, has since said: “I’ll be sitting down with the board and the owners to try and explain what’s happened and it’s difficult to do that at the moment.
“We’ll be speaking with the PGMOL and the Premier League and we’ll discuss the correct course of action soon.”
Forest can complain all they like, but they are failing to acknowledge that the correct outcome of the whole situation would have been a Liverpool free-kick.
This is because Konate was subject to a dangerously high boot from Ryan Yates, which led to the Frenchman going down with the head injury.
You would have thought this be simple to mention and clear up any problems, but it seems mainstream outlets haven’t decided to do this.
Wonder if Nottingham Forest fan Jermaine Jenas may have had some bias in his Match of the Day ‘analysis’?
Those complaining about Konate supposedly feigning a head injury or Liverpool not giving the ball back to Forest, clearly missed the part where Ryan Yates should have been given a red card for a dangerous ‘kung fu’ kick on him! It should have been an LFC free kick anyway! ? pic.twitter.com/6AV8CHlmKh
— Ash Rose (@Ashleyrose66) March 2, 2024
Because someone kung fu kicked Konate pic.twitter.com/tfDWFLMDSf
— DJ (@DJJ246) March 2, 2024
