Latest Nottingham Forest news as controversy over Brentford striker Ivan Toney’s free kick against the Reds continues.
Sean Dyche has criticised Brentford’s Ivan Toney for “cheating” with his free-kicks against Nottingham Forest last month.
The Reds were furious following their 3-2 defeat at the Gtech Community Stadium. After grabbing the lead through Danilo, they were thwarted by a dubious Toney goal.
To gain an edge, the Bees player moved the ball for a free kick, as well as the foam showing where it should have been taken. Forest head coach Nuno Espirito Santo described it as “clear ball displacement,” and Everton manager Dyche has now weighed in on the matter.
The former Forest youth player told The Times (via the Daily Star): “I have no problem with gamesmanship, where a player gets clipped and falls down. That’s always happened. But how can it be right that someone goes down with no contact?
“How is it fair that a player brushes another player’s head and they collapse as if they were assaulted? That is outright cheating.
“In a way, it’s unfair to pick out any one person because this happens all the time, but let me give you one example. Ivan Toney scored a free kick a few weeks ago when the referee was not watching.
“And you know what? The pundits responded, ‘Oh, that was clever; it was smart.’ He was applauded. This is exactly what is wrong with football. A billion children are watching and believing that cheating is brilliant because that is what they hear on television.”
Following the event, Forest contacted the Premier League and the Professional Game Match Officials Board Limited (PGMOL), the referees’ organization. However, they were advised that VAR did not have the authority to act in such a situation.
“We received a response to the incident. “It is clear that the law says VAR cannot do anything about ball displacement,” Nuno stated at the time.
“I believe they should look into that because it alters the realism of the game. However, we also bear responsibility since we should have said something to prevent the free kick from being taken.
“It’s too bad that neither the referee nor the linesman saw it. They simply stated that the law now prohibits VAR from doing anything about it. It is partly our responsibility, but the referee should have noticed it because there is a mark and the ball has clearly moved.”
