Nottingham Forest have a love-hate relationship with VAR and match officials in the sense that at times it’s felt like the club simply loves to loathe them!
For the first time in a while, VAR reared its ugly head again on Sunday. Forest overcame Southampton 3-2, and nerves were frayed near the finish of the game.
Forest led through Elliot Anderson, Callum Hudson-Odoi, and Chris Wood, but were pegged back in the second half by Jan Bednarek and Paul Onuachu, leaving 12 minutes of stoppage time to play.
Things should have gone much more smoothly, though. There is some footage that clearly reveals Southampton should have been down to ten men early in the second half.
Nottingham Forest is on the wrong end of VAR blunder.
The man in the center was Anthony Taylor at the weekend, which perhaps explains why so many Forest fans are upset despite the win.
Taylor was very dreary throughout, but what is new? He was the fourth man earlier this season when Morgan Gibbs-White received a second yellow card against Brighton, with Taylor playing a role.
Gibbs-White was kicked across the City Ground on Sunday. Downes’ tackle in the middle of the pitch was an obvious yellow card, but despite being right in front of the referee, Taylor elected not to caution.
Downes did have his comeuppance later in the story. He was reprimanded in front of the away crowd after smashing his forearm into Gibbs-White’s head after the Forest player floated the ball over Downes’ Southampton colleague.
It was a horrible task, and according to the book, Downes, who should have been yellowed seconds before, should now be collecting a second and then heading for a shower.
Graham Scott was the VAR. This was the type of event for which VAR was meant, in that the referee made a clear mistake and, instead of showing a yellow, should have recommended a review and issued a red for excessive force and serious foul play.
Forest must file an official complaint about Taylor.
This does not need to be widely publicized, but Forest should meet with Howard Webb again. The protection of players is crucial for referees and Taylor didn’t protect Gibbs-White at all on Sunday.
In fact, it appeared that the Brighton game was still on his mind. Naturally, he won’t have forgotten how enraged Gibbs-White was that day, and there’s certainly an axe to grind.
Taylor also decided to deny a goal in the Forest game on Sunday. In truth, there are some gray areas in that one as well, but it isn’t the worst decision we’ve ever seen, and certainly not the worst from Taylor.
That choice was reserved for the decision not to fire Downes. Forest would have won even more easily if Southampton had been reduced to ten men, and it was no surprise that the midfielder was subbed off by his manager at halftime.
