VAR made a big blunder during Nottingham Forest vs Southampton that went under the radar

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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 hate them!

For the first time in a little while, VAR reared its ugly head again on Sunday. Forest beat Southampton 3-2 and the nerves were jangling somewhat towards the end of the contest.

Forest led through Elliot Anderson, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Chris Wood but were pegged back in the second half through goals from Jan Bednarek and Paul Onuachu – with 12 minutes of stoppage time to negotiate.

Things should have been so much smoother though. There is some footage that has emerged that clearly shows that Southampton should have been down to 10 men pretty early in the second half.

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Nottingham Forest on wrong end of VAR blunder

The man in the middle was Anthony Taylor at the weekend, which probably gives you an indication straight away as to why so many Forest fans are incensed despite the victory.

Taylor was pretty drab throughout but then what’s new? He was the fourth man earlier in the season when Morgan Gibbs-White was shown a second yellow card against Brighton, with Taylor having an input.

Gibbs-White was kicked from one side of the City Ground to the other on Sunday. A tackle by Downes in the middle of the pitch was an easy yellow card but despite being right in front of the referee, Taylor chose not to caution.

Downes did get his comeuppance later in the piece. He was cautioned right in front of the away fans after placing a forearm smash into the head of Gibbs-White after the Forest man had lobbed the ball over the head of Downes’ Southampton teammate.

It was a sickening challenge and by the book, Downes – who should have been yellowed moments earlier should now be collecting a second and subsequently heading for a shower.

On VAR was Graham Scott. This was the sort of incident that VAR was designed for in the sense that it was a clear mistake by the referee and after showing a yellow he should have recommended a review and issues a red for showing excessive force and committing serious foul play.

Forest must submit official complaint about Taylor

This doesn’t have to become common knowledge in the media but Forest need to have another sit down with Howard Webb. The protection of players is paramount for referees and Taylor didn’t protect Gibbs-White at all on Sunday.

In fact, it looked as though he still had the Brighton game in his mind. Naturally, he won’t have forgotten how incensed Gibbs-White was that day and clearly there is a bit of an axe to grind there.

Taylor also chose to disallow a goal in the Forest game on Sunday. In truth, there are some grey areas with that one too, although it’s not the worst decision we’ve ever seen – and certainly not the worst we’ve seen from Taylor.

That decision was reserved for the decision not to red Downes. Forest would have won at even more of a canter had Southampton been reduced to 10-men and it was absolutely no surprise that the midfielder was hooked by his manager at half-time.