Nottingham Forest relinquished their unbeaten record on Saturday as Fulham won 1-0 in a pretty drab Premier League contest.
The Reds battled hard during the game but ultimately couldn’t find a way to claim points against an in-form Fulham team.
Forest renewed their toxic relationship with VAR during the game, with the Cottagers scoring their winner after a VAR review.
However, at the other end, Forest were seemingly denied a penalty for something rather similarly subjective that the VAR didn’t deem worthy of a check.
The inconsistencies have angered Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis and frankly, it simply isn’t good enough.
VAR expert delivers verdict on Nottingham Forest decisions
ESPN provide a weekly article on the Premier League‘s VAR decisions and there was a lot to get through this week.
It seems as though the expert, Dale Johnson, thinks Forest can feel aggrieved after the Fulham defeat.
Speaking on the penalty that was given to Fulham, he said in the ESPN article: “When is a foul enough for a VAR penalty? It’s hard to explain sometimes, as decisions within one game can seem inconsistent.
“Murillo prevents Pereira from being able to play the ball by standing on the back of his Achilles and putting his hand on the back of the Fulham player. Yet we see other challenges which look far more deliberate which don’t lead to a VAR review.”
However, he also feels that Forest have a right to demand answers as to why a review wasn’t suggested for what he thinks was a clear foul on Anthony Elanga later in the piece.
He said: “And this is where the questions of consistency within one game come in. Was there really a huge difference between this and the penalty given to Fulham, which proved to be the game-winner? You can say that in both cases the contact from the defending player prevented the opponent from being able to play the ball, yet only one was a spot kick on VAR review.”
VAR isn’t fit for purpose in its current format
At the start of this season, Howard Webb explained that re-refereeing football matches needed to cease this season.
He referred to the umpire’s call in cricket as a bit of a benchmark for the match officials to adhere to with close calls.
Six games into the season and it seems as though this has been forgotten, with both of these decisions pretty similar on Saturday.
Had the game finished 0-0 nobody would have batted an eyelid and most would have probably taken the point and moved on.
However, the inconsistencies ensure that the current format of VAR simply isn’t fit for purpose in the Premier League.
Quite how John Brooks sees the on-field decision for the foul by Murillo as a clear and obvious error – and different to the penalty incident on Anthony Elanga – remains to be seen.
Ultimately, Forest will get nothing other than another apology from the PGMOL but the whole thing just stinks at the moment.
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