On Saturday, Nottingham Forest faced some more contentious judgments, one of which appeared to be a major miscalculation.
Nuno Espirito Santo may have felt as if he was up against two opposing forces at times over the last year, with refereeing and VAR decisions confusing many.
Raul Jimenez scored a penalty to ruin Nottingham Forest’s unbeaten record.
However, the circumstances surrounding the penalty were not ideal.
Murillo was found to have pulled down a Fulham player by stepping on the back of his heel, which appeared severe at the moment because he wasn’t looking at the player.
Interestingly, there was another instance in the game that we believe VAR handled incorrectly.
VAR appears to make a significant error with the Anthony Elanga penalty ruling.
As shown in the image above, Anthony Elanga had the ball in his possession in the box when Calvin Bassey took out his ankle.
It’s mind-boggling that both VAR and the referee failed to notice a clear and apparent error, despite a still view of Bassey’s leg passing through the back of Elanga. It really bends his ankle.
A penalty kick is granted when a player commits a direct free kick offense inside their penalty area, and you can’t argue that anyplace else on the field, this would be considered a free kick.
Fans are most annoyed by inconsistency.
Last season, Ashley Young kicked through the back of Giovanni Reyna’s foot at Goodison Park, but the penalty was not awarded. This is not that dissimilar to the Murillo version.
Sue Smith’s position on the Elanga incident.
Sue Smith, appearing on Ref Watch, said she believes it was a penalty.
“You see, I assumed this was a penalty. I believe he runs through Elanga first to sweep the ball; I assumed that was a penalty.”
Dermot Gallagher was of the opposite opinion, as he stated.
“I think it’s a really difficult judgment; he catches him, but is there enough for him to fall down like that? That, to me, is not a plain and apparent wrong.”
You can’t win the ball by coming through a player, regardless of how soft it is, because this gives the defense an unfair advantage.
